01-18969. Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services; National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research; Notice Inviting Applications for New Awards Under the Research Fellowships Program for Fiscal Year (FY) 2002

Purpose of the Program: The purpose of this Fellowship program is to build research capacity by providing support to highly qualified individuals, including those who are individuals with disabilities, to perform research on the rehabilitation of individuals with disabilities. Fellows may conduct original research in any area authorized by section 204 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended. Fellows may address problems encountered by individuals in their daily lives that are due to the presence of a disabling condition, problems associated with the provision of rehabilitation services to individuals with disabilities, and problems connected with the conduct of disability research.

The program provides two categories of Fellowships: Merit Fellowships and Distinguished Fellowships. (a) To be eligible for a Distinguished Fellowship, an individual must have seven or more years of research experience in subject areas, methods, or techniques relevant to rehabilitation research and must have a doctorate, other terminal degree, or comparable academic qualifications. (b) To be eligible for a Merit Fellowship, an individual must have either advanced professional training or independent study experience in an area which is directly pertinent to disability and rehabilitation.

Applicants are not required to submit a budget with their proposal. These are one Full Time Equivalent (FTE) awards: the applicant must work principally on the fellowship during the year. The applicant cannot receive support through any other federal government grants during this period. We define one FTE as equal to 40 hours per week.

National Education Goals

The eight National Education Goals focus the Nation's education reform efforts and provide a framework for improving teaching and learning.

This notice addresses the National Education Goal that every adult American will be literate and will possess the knowledge and skills necessary to compete in a global economy and exercise the rights and responsibilities of citizenship.

Eligible Applicants: (a) Only individuals are eligible to be recipients of Fellowships. (b) Any individual is eligible for assistance under this program who has training and experience that indicate a potential for engaging in scientific research related to the solution of rehabilitation problems of individuals with disabilities.

Note:

Institutions are not eligible to be recipients of Fellowships.

Deadline for Transmittal of Applications: October 9, 2001.

Application Available: July 31, 2001.

Maximum Award Amount: Merit: $45,000; Distinguished: $55,000.

Estimated Number of Awards: 10.

Note:

The estimated funding level in this notice does not bind the Department of Education to make awards, or to any specific number of awards or funding levels, unless otherwise specified in statute.

Project Period: 12 months.

Page Limitation: The application must be limited to no more than 24 pages double spaced.

Note:

The Secretary will reject without consideration or evaluation any application for a Research Fellowship that does not adhere to the 24 page double space limit.

Applicable Regulations: The Education Department General Administrative Regulations (EDGAR), 34 CFR parts 74, 75, 77, 81, 82, 85, 86, and 97; and 34 CFR part 356, Research Fellowships.

Note:

Applicants need to put their Social Security Number in Block #2 on the 424 form in place of the DUNS Number.

Selection Criteria: In evaluating an application for a new grant under this competition, we use selection criteria chosen from the selection criteria in 34 CFR 350.54. The selection criteria to be used for this competition will be provided in the application package for this competition.

For Applications Contact: Education Publications Center (ED Pubs), P.O. Box 1398, Jessup, MD 20794-1398. Telephone (toll free): 1-877-433-7827. FAX: [phone]. If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD), you may call (toll free) 1-877-576-7734.

You may also contact ED Pubs via its Web site: http://www.ed.gov/​pubs/​edpubs.html or its E-mail address ([e-mail]).

If you request an application from ED Pubs, be sure to identify this competition as follows: CFDA number 84.133F.

Individuals with disabilities may obtain a copy of the application package in an alternative format by contacting the Grants and Contracts Services Team, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW., room 3317, Switzer Building, Washington, DC 20202-2550. Telephone: [phone].

If you use a TDD, you may call the Federal Information Relay Services (FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339. However, the Department is not able to reproduce in an alternative format the standard forms included in the application package.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Donna Nangle, Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW., room 3414, Switzer Building, Washington, DC 20202-2645. Telephone: [phone]. Individuals who use a TDD may call the TDD number at [phone]. Internet: [e-mail]

Individuals with disabilities may obtain this document in an alternative format (e.g., Braille, large print, or computer diskette) on request to the contact person listed in the preceding paragraph.

Electronic Access to This Document

You may review this document, as well as all other Department of Education documents published in the Federal Register, in text or Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) on the Internet at the following site: www.ed.gov/​legislation/​FedRegister To use PDF. you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available free at this site. If you have questions about using PDF, call the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO), toll free, at 1-888-293-6498; or in the Washington, DC, area at [phone].

Note:

The official version of this document is the document published in the Federal Register. Free Internet access to the official edition of the Federal Register and the Code of Federal Regulations is available on GPO access at: http://www.access.gpo.gov/​nara/​index.html.

Program Authority: 29 U.S.C. 762(e).

Dated: July 19, 2001.

Francis V. Corrigan,

Deputy Director, National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research.