[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 180 (Wednesday, September 17, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 54436-54437]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-23736]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY


Office of Science Financial Assistance Program Notice DE-FG01-
03ER03-25; Office of Nuclear Physics Outstanding Junior Investigator 
Program

AGENCY: Department of Energy.

ACTION: Notice inviting grant applications.

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SUMMARY: The Office of Nuclear Physics of the Office of Science (SC), 
U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), invites grant applications for support 
under the Outstanding Junior Investigator Program (OJI) in nuclear 
physics. The purpose of this program is to support the development of 
individual research programs of outstanding scientists early in their 
careers. Applications should be from tenure-track faculty who are 
currently involved in experimental or theoretical nuclear physics 
research, the U.S. Nuclear Data (USDNP) program, or accelerator physics 
research and should be submitted through a U.S. academic institution.

DATES: To permit timely consideration of awards in Fiscal Year 2004, 
formal applications submitted in response to this notice must be 
received by November 11, 2003.

ADDRESSES: Formal applications in response to this solicitation are to 
be electronically submitted by an authorized institutional business 
official through DOE's Industry Interactive Procurement System (IIPS) 
at: http://e-center.doe.gov/. IIPS provides for the posting of 
solicitations and receipt of applications in a paperless environment 
via the Internet. In order to submit applications through IIPS your 
business official will need to register at the IIPS website. It is 
suggested that this registration be completed several days prior to the 
date on which you plan to submit the formal application. The Office of 
Science will include attachments as part of this notice that provide 
the appropriate forms in PDF fillable format that are to be submitted 
through IIPS. IIPS offers the option of submitting multiple files--
please limit submissions to only one file within the volume if 
possible, with a maximum of no more than four files. Color images 
should be submitted in IIPS as a separate file in PDF format and 
identified as such. These images should be kept to a minimum due to the 
limitations of reproducing them. They should be numbered and referred 
to in the body of the technical scientific proposal as Color image 1, 
Color image 2, etc. Questions regarding the operation of IIPS may be e-
mailed to the IIPS Help Desk at: [email protected] or you may call 
the help desk at: (800) 683-0751. Further information on the use of 
IIPS by the Office of Science is available at: http://www.sc.doe.gov/production/grants/grants.html

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Sidney A. Coon, Office of Nuclear 
Physics, SC-90/Germantown Building, Office of Science, U.S. Department 
of Energy, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20585-1290. 
Telephone: (301) 903-3613. Fax: (301) 903-3833. E-Mail address: 
[email protected]. The full text of Program Notice DE-FG01-
03ER03-25 is available via the World Wide Web using the following web 
address: http://www.sc.doe.gov/production/grants/grants.html.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This is the fifth year of an Outstanding 
Junior Investigator Program in Nuclear Physics. A principal goal of 
this program is to identify exceptionally talented nuclear physicists 
early in their careers and to facilitate the development of their 
research programs. The proposed research is expected to make an 
important contribution to the vigor of the U.S. Nuclear Physics 
program.

Program Funding

    The DOE expects to make several awards in Fiscal Year 2004; four 
awards were made in Fiscal Year 2003. The actual number of awards will 
be determined by the number of excellent applications and the total 
amount of funds available for this program. It is anticipated that a 
total of up to $250,000 will be available in Fiscal Year 2004 for 
funding the program, subject to availability of appropriated funds, and 
that awards would be for three to five year terms. At the end of the 
initial term, these grants may be renewed, subject to appropriate 
external peer review at the time of renewal, as long as the recipient's 
tenure status is unchanged.

Research Areas

    OJI research applications should be clearly aligned with at least 
one of the following Office of Nuclear Physics long-term performance 
measures and be able to contribute to its overall progress.
    [sbull] Make precision measurements of fundamental properties of 
the proton, neutron, and simple nuclei for comparison with theoretical 
calculations to provide a quantitative understanding of their quark 
substructure.
    [sbull] Recreate brief, tiny samples of hot, dense nuclear matter 
to search for the quark-gluon plasma and characterize its properties.
    [sbull] Investigate new regions of nuclear structure, study 
interactions in nuclear matter like those occurring in neutron stars, 
and determine the reactions that created the nuclei of atomic elements 
inside stars and supernovae.
    [sbull] Measure fundamental properties of neutrinos and fundamental 
symmetries by using neutrinos from the sun and nuclear reactors, and by 
using radioactive decay measurements.

Project Description

    Project descriptions should be limited to a maximum of 20 pages 
(including text and figures) of technical information. In addition, 
please limit biographical and publication information for the principal 
investigator to no more than two pages each. Each principal 
investigator should provide an E-mail address and a list of recent 
collaborators (i.e., within the last four years). In addition to the 
information required by 10 CFR part 605 each application should contain 
the following items: (1) A succinct statement of the goal of the 
research, (2) a detailed research plan, (3) the specific results 
expected at the end of the project period, (4) an analysis of the 
adequacy of the budget, (5) a discussion of the impact of the proposed 
research on other fields of science, and (6) for projects requiring 
significant computational resources (e.g., at the National Energy 
Research Scientific Computing Center), an estimate and justification of 
the resources that will be required.

Merit Review

    Applications will be subjected to scientific merit review (peer 
review) and will be evaluated against the following criteria, listed in 
descending order of importance as codified at 10 CFR part 605.10 (d):
    1. Scientific and/or technical merit of the project;
    2. Appropriateness of the proposed method or approach;
    3. Competency of applicant's personnel and adequacy of proposed 
resources;
    4. Reasonableness and appropriateness of the proposed budget.
    Additional criteria, which will be considered: Future promise of 
the

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investigator, and the resources and interest of the sponsoring 
institution.
    General information about development and submission of 
applications, eligibility, limitations, evaluation and selection 
processes, and other policies and procedures are contained in the 
Application Guide for the Office of Science Financial Assistance 
Program and 10 CFR part 605. Electronic access to the latest version of 
SC's Application Guide is possible via the Internet at the following 
Web site address: http://www.sc.doe.gov/production/grants/grants.html. 
DOE is under no obligation to pay for any costs associated with the 
preparation or submission of applications.
    The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Number for this program 
is 81.049, and the solicitation control number is ERFAP 10 CFR part 
605.

    Issued in Washington, DC on September 10, 2003.
John Rodney Clark,
Associate Director of Science for Resource Management.
[FR Doc. 03-23736 Filed 9-16-03; 8:45 am]
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