[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]




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Part VIII





Department of Agriculture





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Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service



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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  

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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: [email protected].

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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 [email protected] (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]
BILLING CODE 3410-22-M