Event Logistics

When and where is the meeting? 

• Dates: June 29 to July 1, 2026
• Where: Hyatt Regency Washington on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC.
• Start time: 4:00 p.m. ET on Monday, June 29 with an evening kickoff session.
• End time: 2:00 p.m. ET on Wednesday, July 1 after a roundtable lunch with NSF program officers.

Who is invited to the event?

• We anticipate sending individualized email invites in March 2026 (when registration opens).
• Invitations will be sent to ECR:Core and ECR:BCSER PIs with awards ending June 2026 or later (i.e., active at the time of the meeting).
• The PI will receive the invitation, and up to three representatives per award can attend. Only one attendee per award is expected. Additional attendees are optional.
• Eligible awards include CAREER or Mid-Career Advancement awards supported by the ECR:Core or ECR:BCSER programs.
• Note: ECR stands for EDU Core Research, and BCSER stands for Building Capacity in STEM Education Research.

What will I get out of the event?

• The 2024 meeting, also hosted by the ECR Hub, was highly rated: 80% of survey responses rated the sessions as “above average” or “far above average.”
• Relative to traditional conference formats, we emphasize time for networking and deep peer-to-peer discussion.
• Networking activities will aim to foster relationships that (a) cut across traditional disciplinary silos but (b) are united by shared interests in common topics.
• Discussion-focused sessions will aim to foster new ideas for future research that build on these conversations and insights from others’ projects.
• There will also be opportunities to talk with NSF program officers, including at the closing roundtable lunch on July 1 about ideas for future proposals.

Will I be expected to pay?

• Awardees are expected to use their NSF grant funds to attend, as noted in the ECR:Core and ECR:BCSER solicitations, which state "Funds should be budgeted for the principal investigator or a project member to attend a two-day recipients' meeting in the Washington, D.C. area."
• Optional: Awardees are allowed to use grant funds to support multiple attendees from a single award, consistent with normal rebudgeting authority.
• Registration is free, but attendees must book and pay for their own travel and hotel in keeping with the program solicitation.
• We anticipate that networking lunches will be approximately $20/meal for all attendees, while providing other light refreshments and beverages outside of lunches at no cost. However, those details are not yet finalized.

How did you decide on the meeting date?

• Per past surveys, ECR:Core and ECR:BCSER awardees prefer May or June as the most ideal window for the awardee meeting.
• We aimed to honor that community preference as closely as feasibly possible in searching for potential hotel venues.
• Practical constraints (i.e., hotel availability with adequate meeting space) required choosing late June / July 1.
• We recognize that July 1 is the Wednesday before July 4th weekend. Please note that the last day (Wednesday, July 1) ends early at 2 pm ET, allowing for flexibility of pre-weekend holiday travel.

Will there be childcare at the meeting?

• Unfortunately, we are unable to provide childcare at the awardee meeting. In the past, firm commitments from attendees were too few to make a cost-effective option tractable for those who wanted on-site childcare options. Please note, however:
  • We will provide a designated lactation room at the meeting.
  • You can use your NSF grant funds to cover the cost of temporary dependent care through a vendor that you secure on your own (see here in the PAPPG).

My ECR:Core grant studies preK-12 education or informal learning. Can I still come, even with the recent changes brought by the new STEM K-12 program?

• Yes - your current ECR:Core award means you are still eligible to come.
• Beyond eligibility, we are designing the meeting with the needs of this specific group of ECR:Core grantees in mind, such as through a meeting session on the new STEM K-12 program, a panel session on translational directions for research on early math learning, and roundtable discussions on specific topics regarding preK-12 and informal learning.
• Likewise, you would be eligible to share and discuss your work with other preK-12/informal ECR:Core grantees in a session format called lightning roundtables.
• The STEM K-12 program will not have an in-person awardee meeting this calendar year. Hence, if you’d like to benefit from an NSF-focused meeting this year, we especially encourage you to come to this ECR:Core and ECR:BCSER awardee meeting this summer.

My grant was terminated and then reinstated. Can I still come?

• Yes - we are sending invitations to those who, as of March 2026, have an active ECR:Core and ECR:BCSER grant ending June 2026 or later.
• If your grant was reinstated, then it still counts as an active grant for these purposes.

Lightning Roundtable Presentations

What is the last day for signing up for a lightning roundtable presentation?

• The last day to sign up as a lightning roundtable presenter is May 1, 2026. 
  • Please note that this is different than when registration for the Awardee meeting closes, which is May 15, 2026. 

I want to update the information provided for my project’s lightning roundtable presentation. 

Please email us (ecrhub@ecrhub.org) with any changes to your lightning roundtable presentation.