[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 12 (Thursday, January 19, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 4036-4037]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-1315]
[[Page 4035]]
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Part VIII
Department of Agriculture
_______________________________________________________________________
Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service
_______________________________________________________________________
Food and Agricultural Sciences National Needs Graduate Fellowships
Grants Program; Solicitation of Proposals for Fiscal Year 1995; Notice
Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 12 / Thursday, January 19, 1995 /
Notices
[[Page 4036]]
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service
Food and Agricultural Sciences National Needs Graduate
Fellowships Grants Program; Solicitation of Proposals for Fiscal Year
1995
Purpose
Notice is hereby given that under the authority contained in
Section 1417(b)(6) of the National Agricultural Research, Extension,
and Teaching Policy Act of 1977, as amended (7 U.S.C. 3152(b)(6)), the
Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES)
will award competitive grants to colleges and universities for doctoral
fellowships to meet national needs for the development of professional
and scientific expertise in the food and agricultural sciences.
(The CSREES was established by Pub. L. No. 103-354, the Federal
Crop Insurance Reform and Department of Agriculture Reorganization Act
of 1994, and the functions of the Cooperative State Research Service
were transferred to the CSREES by the Secretary of Agriculture in the
Secretary's Memorandum 1010-1, Reorganization of the Department of
Agriculture, October 20, 1994. A Final Rule amending the administrative
provisions that apply to this program (7 CFR part 3402) was published
in the Federal Register on December 30, 1994 (59 FR 68072).)
Eligibility
Please note that the authorizing legislation for the National Needs
Graduate Fellowship Grants Program allows the award of grants to
colleges and universities only; awards cannot be made to research
foundations established by the college or university.
Available Funds
The amount available for this purpose in FY 1995 is approximately
$3,395,000.
Targeted Areas
Food and agricultural sciences areas appropriate for fellowship
applications are those in which shortages of expertise have been
determined and targeted by CSREES for national needs doctoral
fellowship support. In FY 1995, only the doctoral level of study will
be supported. CSREES supports six national needs areas on a rotating
basis of three needs areas per fiscal year. The targeted national needs
areas to be supported in FY 1995 are: Biotechnology--Plant;
Engineering--Food, Forest, Biological, or Agricultural; and Water
Science. Approximately one-third of the available funds will be
allocated to each of the three national needs areas. CSREES plans to
support the remaining three national needs areas (Biotechnology--
Animal; Human Nutrition and/or Food Science; and Marketing or
Management--Food, Forest Products, or Agribusiness) in FY 1996.
Although this procedure limits the participation of an applicant
interested in a specific targeted national needs area to alternating
years, it increases the likelihood that the applicant will obtain
funding under the program each time a grant application is submitted.
Proposal Limitations
For the FY 1995 program, a proposal may request funding in only one
national needs area. A proposal may request a minimum of two
fellowships and a maximum of four fellowships in the national needs
area for which funding is requested. No limitation is placed on the
number of proposals an institution may submit. However, the same
college or equivalent administrative unit within an institution may
submit a maximum of three proposals: one in each of the three national
needs areas supported. (No more than one proposal may be submitted in
any one national needs area by the same college or equivalent
administrative unit.) Additionally, total funds awarded to an
institution under the program in FY 1995 shall not exceed $324,000.
Financial and Other Limitations
Each institution funded will receive $54,000 for each doctoral
fellowship awarded. However, it is anticipated that total program funds
available will not be evenly divisible by $54,000. Therefore, one
fellowship may be supported on a partial basis with a lesser amount of
funds. Except in the case of the partially funded fellowship,
fellowship monies must be used to: (1) Support the same doctoral fellow
for three years at $17,000 per year; and (2) provide for an institution
annual cost-of-education allowance of $1,000, not to exceed a total of
$3,000 over the three-year duration of the fellowship.
While proposals must document institution willingness to recruit
and train at least two but not more than four fellows in a national
needs area, CSREES may fund fewer fellows than requested in a proposal.
This program is highly competitive, and it is anticipated that
available funding will support approximately 63 doctoral fellows
through seven to ten grants in each of the three targeted areas.
Special International Study or Thesis/Dissertation Research Travel
Allowances
CSREES has determined that no FY 1995 appropriations will be
targeted to supplemental grants supporting special international study
or thesis/dissertation research travel allowances. However, it is
possible that no-year funds drawn from expired fellowship grants with
unspent funds remaining will be used to support such supplemental
grants in FY 1995. If CSREES determines that special international
study or thesis/dissertation travel allowances will be awarded in FY
1995, a Federal Register notice supplementing this program announcement
will be published supplying the information specified in 7 CFR 3402.5,
sections (e) and (f).
Evaluation Criteria
There are no changes to the evaluation criteria or point weightings
for FY 1995. The evaluation criteria as published in the administrative
provisions will be used to evaluate proposals for the FY 1995
competition.
Application Information
An application package has been developed which provides the forms,
instructions, and other relevant information needed by institutions to
apply to the Food and Agricultural Sciences National Needs Graduate
Fellowship Grants Program described herein. Applicants should be aware
that the proposal narrative must be typed on one side of the page only,
using a font no smaller than 12 point, and double-spaced. All margins
must be at least one inch. The proposal should be paginated and a Table
of Contents should be included preceding the proposal narrative.
Additionally, applicants are cautioned to comply with the 20-page
limitation for the narrative section of the proposal and the inclusion
of summary faculty vitae through the use of Form CSRS-708.
Copies of the application package may be requested from: Proposal
Services Branch; Awards Management Division; Cooperative State
Research, Education, and Extension Service; U.S. Department of
Agriculture; Room 303, Aerospace Center; Ag Box 2245; Washington, DC
20250-2245. The telephone number is (202) 401-5048. To request, via e-
mail, that a copy of the application package be sent to you through
regular mail, send your request including your name and mailing address
to: psb@morrill.esusda.gov.
[[Page 4037]]
When and Where to Submit Proposals
An original plus five copies of a proposal and one copy of the
institution's latest graduate catalog must be submitted. Proposals
submitted through the mail should be sent to the address listed above
and must be postmarked by April 14, 1995. Hand-delivered proposals must
be submitted by April 14, 1995 to an express mail or a courier service
or brought to Room 303, Aerospace Center, 901 D Street, SW.,
Washington, DC 20024. Proposals transmitted via a facsimile (FAX)
machine will not be accepted.
Submission of an Intent to Submit a Proposal form (Form CSRS-706)
is neither required nor requested in FY 1995.
Applicable Regulations
This program is subject to the administrative provisions found at 7
CFR part 3402. A Final Rule amending the administrative provisions for
the Food and Agricultural Sciences National Needs Graduate Fellowship
Grants Program was published in the Federal Register on December 30,
1994 (59 FR 68072). In addition, the USDA Uniform Federal Assistance
Regulations, 7 CFR part 3015, as amended; the Governmentwide Debarment
and Suspension (Nonprocurement) and Governmentwide Requirements for
Drug-Free Workplace (Grants), 7 CFR part 3017; the Restrictions on
Lobbying, 7 CFR part 3018; and the regulations regarding Audits of
Institutions of Higher Education and Other Nonprofit Institutions, 7
CFR part 3051, apply to this program. Other Federal statutes and
regulations that apply to this program are identified in the
administrative provisions.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This program is listed in the Catalog of
Federal Domestic Assistance under No. 10.210. For the reasons set forth
in the Final Rule related notice to 7 CFR part 3015, subpart V, 48 FR
29115, June 24, 1983, when the authority to administer this program
resided in the Agricultural Research Service, this program is excluded
from the scope of Executive Order 12372 which requires
intergovernmental consultation with State and local officials.
Under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980 (44
U.S.C. Chapter 35), the collection of information requirements for this
program have been approved under OMB Document Nos. 0524-0022 and 0524-
0024.
Program Contact
If you have questions concerning the submission of Food and
Agricultural Sciences National Needs Graduate Fellowship Grants Program
proposals, please contact Dr. Wm. Jay Jackman, Higher Education
Programs, CSREES, USDA, at (202) 401-1790 (voice), (202) 401-1770
(fax), or jjackman@morrill.esusda.gov (Internet).
Done at Washington, DC, this 12th day of January 1995.
William D. Carlson,
Acting Administrator, Cooperative State Research, Education, and
Extension Service.
[FR Doc. 95-1315 Filed 1-18-95; 8:45 am]
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