[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 47 (Thursday, March 10, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-5575]


[[Page Unknown]]

[Federal Register: March 10, 1994]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Cooperative State Research Service

 

Food and Agricultural Sciences National Needs Graduate 
Fellowships Grants Program; Solicitation of Proposals for Fiscal Year 
1994

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 Service (CSRS) through its Office of Higher 
Education Programs (HEP), 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.

ELIGIBILITY: Please note that the authorizing legislation for the 
National Needs Graduate Fellowship 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 Fiscal Year 
1994 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 CSRS-HEP for national needs doctoral 
fellowship support. Please note that due to the funding level of this 
program over the last seven fiscal years, CSRS supports the six 
national needs areas funded in past years on a rotating basis of three 
needs areas per fiscal year. The targeted national needs areas to be 
supported in FY 1994 are: Biotechnology--Animal; Human Nutrition and/or 
Food Science; and Marketing or Management--Food, Forest Products, or 
Agribusiness. Approximately one-third of the available funds will be 
allocated to each of the three national needs areas. CSRS plans to 
support the remaining three national needs areas (Biotechnology--Plant; 
Engineering--Food, Forest, Biological, and Agricultural; and Water 
Science) in FY 1995. 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 Fiscal Year 1994 program, a proposal may 
request funding in only one: (1) National needs area. A proposal may 
request a minimum of two (2) fellowships and a maximum of four (4) 
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 (3) proposals: One 
(1) 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 Fiscal Year 1994 
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 will 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 (3) 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. Please note that beginning in FY 1991 
the yearly doctoral stipend was increased from $15,000 to $17,000 in an 
attempt to keep the USDA support at a level that is competitive with 
fellowships offered outside the food and agricultural sciences 
community.
    While proposals must document institution willingness to recruit 
and train at least two (2) but not more than four (4) fellows in a 
national needs area, CSRS 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 grants in each of the three targeted areas.

APPLICATION INFORMATION: An Application Kit 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 Fellowships Grants Program described herein. Applicants 
should be aware that proposals must be typed on one side of the page 
only, using a font no smaller than ten characters per inch, and double-
spaced. All margins must be at least one inch. All pages following the 
Table of Contents must be paginated. 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 Kit may be requested from: Proposal 
Services Branch; Awards Management Division; Cooperative State Research 
Service; U.S. Department of Agriculture; Ag Box 2245; Washington, DC 
20250-2245; telephone number (202) 401-5048.

WHEN AND WHERE TO SUBMIT PROPOSALS: Six (6) copies of a proposal and 
one (1) 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 29, 1994. Hand-
delivered proposals must be submitted by April 29, 1994, to an express 
mail or a courier service or brought to Proposal Services Branch; 
Awards Management Division; Cooperative State Research Service; U.S. 
Department of Agriculture; room 303; Aerospace Center, 901 D Street, 
SW., Washington, DC 20024. Proposals transmitted via a facsimile (FAX) 
machine will not be accepted.

APPLICABLE REGULATIONS: This program is subject to the provisions found 
at 7 CFR part 3402 (52 FR 4712, February 13, 1987, as amended by 55 FR 
2214, January 22, 1990). 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-FreeWorkplace (Grants), 7 CFR part 3017; the New 
Restrictions on Lobbying, 7 CFR part 3018; and Audits of Institutions 
of Higher Education and Other Nonprofit Institutions, 7 CFR part 3051, 
apply to this program.

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. 3504(h)), the collection of information requirements contained 
in this Notice have been approved under OMB Document No. 0524-0024.

    Done at Washington, DC, this 4th day of March 1994.
John Patrick Jordan,
Administrator, Cooperative State Research Service.
[FR Doc. 94-5575 Filed 3-9-94; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-22-M