[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 217 (Thursday, November 9, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 56928-56930]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-27818]
[[Page 56927]]
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Part VI
Department of Agriculture
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Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service
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Grants and Cooperative Agreements; Availability, etc.: Food and
Agricultural Sciences and National Needs Graduate Fellowship Grants
Program; Notice
Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 217 / Thursday, November 9, 1995 /
Notices
[[Page 56928]]
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service
Food and Agricultural Sciences National Needs Graduate Fellowship
Grants Program; Solicitation of Proposals for Fiscal Year 1996;
Supplemental Grants for Special International Study or Thesis/
Dissertation Research Travel Allowances
Applications are invited for competitive grant awards 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 for Fiscal Year (FY) 1996. Additionally, the
Cooperative State Research, Education, and extension Service (CSREES)
seeks applications from recipients of presently active national needs
fellowship grants for supplemental grants to support special
international study or thesis/dissertation research experiences for
current Fellows:
I. Food and Agricultural Sciences National Needs Graduate
Fellowship Grants
Authority
The authority for this program is 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)). Under this program,
subject to the availability of funds, the Secretary may make
competitive grants, for periods not to exceed five years, to land-grant
colleges and universities, colleges and universities having significant
minority enrollments and a demonstrable capacity to carry out the
teaching of food and agricultural sciences, and to other colleges and
universities having a demonstrable capacity to carry out the teaching
of food and agricultural sciences, to administer and conduct graduate
fellowship programs to help meet the Nation's needs for development of
scientific and professional expertise in the food and agricultural
sciences. 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.
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 1996, 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 1996 are: Animal Biotechnology; Human
Nutrition and/or Food Science; and Food, Forest Products, or
Agribusiness Marketing or Management. 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
(Plant Biotechnology; Food, Forest, Biological, or Agricultural
Engineering; and Water Science) in FY 1997. 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 1996 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
only submit a maximum of three proposals, but no more than one proposal
may be submitted in any one national needs area by the same college or
equivalent administrative unit within an institution. 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.
Available Funding
CSREES anticipates that approximately $3,395,000 will be available
for this program in FY 1996. This program is highly competitive, and it
is anticipated that available funding will support approximately 63
doctoral fellows through approximately ten grants in each of the three
targeted areas. However, no-year funds drawn from expired fellowship
grants with unspent funds remaining may be used to fund more than the
approximately 63 fellows supported by the FY 1996 appropriations.
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, or one fellowship may be supported fully by a combination of FY
1996 funds and unspent funds remaining from expired fellowship grants.
Except in the case of a 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
duration of the grant. Total funds awarded to an institution under the
program in FY 1996 shall not exceed $324,000.
Application Information
An application package is available that 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. 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, D.C. 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 U.S. mail, send your request
including your name and mailing address to psb@reeusda.gov.
Reminder: 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. Applicants are cautioned to comply with the
20-page limitation for the narrative section of the proposal.
Applicants also are cautioned to include summary faculty vitae
through the use of Form CSREES-708.
When and Where to Submit Proposals
An original plus six copies of a proposal and one copy of the
institution's latest graduate catalog must be submitted. Proposals
submitted through the U.S. mail must be postmarked by February 9, 1996,
and should be sent to the following address: Proposal Services Branch;
Awards Management Division; Cooperative State Research, Education, and
Extension Service; U.S. Department of Agriculture; Room 303, Aerospace
Center; Ag Box
[[Page 56929]]
2245; Washington, D.C. 20250-2245. Hand-delivered proposals must be
submitted by February 9, 1996, to an express mail or a courier service
or brought to the following address by 4:30 p.m. eastern standard time:
Proposal Services Branch; Awards Management Division; Cooperative State
Research, Education, and Extension Service; U.S. Department of
Agriculture; Room 303, Aerospace Center; 901 D Street, S.W.;
Washington, D.C. 20024. Proposals transmitted via a facsimile (FAX)
machine will not be accepted.
Submission of an Intent a Submit a Proposal form (Form CSREES-706)
is neither required nor requested in FY 1996.
II. Special International Study or Thesis/Dissertation Research
Travel Allowances
Authority
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)), and in accordance with the
Administrative Provisions for the Food and Agricultural Sciences
National Needs Graduate Fellowship Grants Program (7 CFR Part
3402.5(e)), CSREES will award supplemental grants, on a competitive
basis, for special international study or thesis/dissertation research
travel allowances. Institutions eligible to receive supplemental grants
are those that have active National Needs Graduate Fellowship Grants
(awarded in FY 1995 or eralier). These supplemental grants may be
awarded to colleges and universities only; awards cannot be made to
research foundations established by a college or university.
Eligibility
Eligibility for this opportunity is limited to any current Fellow
with sufficient time to complete the international experience before
the termination date of the fellowship grant under which he/she is
supported. Before the international study or thesis/dissertation
research travel may commence, a Fellow must have completed one academic
year of full-time study, as defined by the institution, under the
fellowship appointment and arrangements must have been formalized for
the Fellow to study and/or conduct research in the foreign location(s).
All national needs areas previously supported under the Food and
Agricultural Sciences National Needs Graduate Fellowships Grants
Program are eligible for the supplementary grants for special
international study or these/dissertation research travel world.
Available Funding
CREES has determined that no FY 1996 appropriations will be
targeted to supplemental grants supporting special international study
or thesis/dissertation research travel allowances; rather, no-year
funds drawn from expired fellowup grants with unspent funds remaining
will be used to support such supplemental grants.
For each travel allowance, the institution may request up to
$3,000. Travel allowance monies may be used only to pay travel and
living expenses for the Fellow while the Fellow is on the specific
international assignment as proposed in the application for the special
international study or thesis/dissertation research travel allowance.
No limitation is placed on the number of applications an institution
may submit. Awards will be made to the extent possible based on
availability of funds. Estimated funds for supplemental grants in FY
1996 are approximately $60,000. To the extent possible, all
applications associated with one CSREES grant number should be
submitted at the same time in order to facilitate the award of these
supplemental grants and minimize accounting activity at the grantee
institution.
Application Information
A separate application must be submitted by a fellowship grant
project director at an eligible institution on behalf of each Fellow
for which a special international study or thesis/dissertation research
travel allowance is requested. Applications for the special
international study or thesis/dissertation research travel allowance
supplemental awards may be submitted at any time prior to July 1, 1996.
However, to allow time for CSREES to process the applications,
proposals should be submitted at least three months prior to the
proposed beginning date of the international travel experience.
Applicants are urged to submit their proposals early.
Note: Proposals for these special supplemental awards should not
be submitted as part of the application for a FY 1996 Graduate
Fellowship grant.)
Each application must include an ``Application for Funding,'' Form
CSREES-661, and a ``Budget,'' Form CSREES-55. To provide HEP with
sufficient information upon which to evaluate the merits of the
requests for a special international study or thesis/dissertation
research travel allowance, each application for a supplemental grant
must contain a narrative which provides the following: (1) The specific
destination(s) and duration of the travel; (2) the specific study or
thesis/dissertation research activities in which the Fellow will be
engaged; (3) how the international experience will contribute to the
Fellow's program of study; (4) a budget narrative specifying and
justifying the dollar amount requested for the travel; (5) summary
credentials of both the U.S. and international faculty or other
professionals with whom the Fellow will be working during the
international experience (summary credentials must not exceed three
pages per person; ``Summary Vita--Teaching Proposal,'' Form CSREES-708,
may be used for this purpose); (6) a letter for the dean of the
Fellow's college or equivalent administrative unit supporting the
Fellow's travel request and certifying that the travel experience will
not jeopardize the Fellow's satisfactory progress toward degree
completion; and (7) a letter from the fellowship grant project director
certifying the Fellow's eligibility, the accuracy of the Fellow's
travel request, and the relevance of the travel to the Fellow's
advanced degree objectives.
The narrative portion of the application must not exceed 10 pages,
excluding the summary vita/vitae. The narrative should 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.
An application package containing the forms, instructions, and
other relevant information needed by institutions to apply for the
special international study or thesis/dissertation research travel
allowances 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 U.S. mail, send your request including
your name and mailing address to psb@reeusda.gov.
Evaluation of Applications
Applications for the special international travel allowances will
be evaluated as they are received until available funds for the
supplemental grants are exhausted. Upon receipt of an application,
CSREES staff will first determine the eligibility of the Fellow, for
whom the application was
[[Page 56930]]
submitted, for an international travel experience. Eligible and
complete requests then will be reviewed, using the criteria and weights
indicated below, by professional staff from USDA or other Federal
agencies, as appropriate. Proposals judged to be worthy of funding will
be eligible for supplemental awards. Since awards for supplemental
grants will be made as reviews are completed, there is no assurance
funds will be available late in the Federal fiscal year (which runs
from October 1 through September 30) for every acceptable proposal.
The evaluation criteria for special international study or thesis/
dissertation research travel allowance applications are indicated
below. The points are provided as a guide to the relative importance of
each criterion, but all criteria must be addressed satisfactorily.
a. Destination and duration--the degree to which the destination
and duration of the travel experience is appropriate for enhancing the
Fellow's academic program--10 points.
b. Travel experience activities--the degree to which the specific
international experiences contribute to the Fellow's program of study--
30 points.
c. Advance preparations--the degree to which the proposed study or
research activities are well-planned, including the likelihood that
these activities will come to fruition and that the participation of
identified personnel will materialize--20 points.
d. Budget--the degree to which the budget for the international
experience is justified--10 points.
e. Personnel--the degree to which the personnel, both U.S. and
international, involved with the travel experience have the appropriate
credentials and experience to direct the Fellow's international
experience, and the likelihood that their participation as mentor,
trainers, advisors, or teachers will contribute to the educational
value of the travel experiences--20 points.
f. Supporting documentation--the degree to which letters from the
dean of the college (or equivalent administrative unit) and the
fellowship grant project director support the application--10 points.
When and Where to Submit Applications
An original plus six copies of each application must be submitted.
Each copy of the application should be stapled securely in the upper
left-hand corner. Please do not bind the original or the copies of the
application. All copies of the application must be mailed in one
package. Applications transmitted via a facsimile (FAX) machine will
not be accepted. Applications submitted through the U.S. mail should be
sent to the following address: 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. Hand-delivered
proposals, including those submitted to an express mail or a courier
service, should be brought to the following address: Proposal Services
Branch; Awards Management Division; Cooperative State Research,
Education, and Extension Service; U.S. Department of Agriculture; Room
303, Aerospace Center; 901 D Street, SW.; Washington, DC 20024. The
telephone number is (202) 401-5048. Applications may be submitted at
any time prior to July 1, 1996.
III. 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 Administrative Requirements for
Grants and Agreements With Institutions of Higher Education, Hospitals,
and Other Nonprofit Organizations, 7 CFR Part 3019 (60 FR 44,122
(August 24, 1995)); 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.
IV. 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.
V. 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, Science and Education Resources Development, CSREES, USDA, at
(202) 720-1973 (voice), (202) 720-2030 (fax), or jjackman@reeusda.gov
(Internet).
Done at Washington, D.C., this 3rd day of November 1995.
Colien Hefferan,
Acting Administrator, Cooperative State Research, Education, and
Extension Service.
[FR Doc. 95-27818 Filed 11-8-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-22-M
