[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 69 (Wednesday, April 10, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14421-14423]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-07074]
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NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
Agency Information Collection Activities: Comment Request
AGENCY: National Science Foundation.
ACTION: Submission for OMB review; comment request.
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SUMMARY: The National Science Foundation (NSF) has submitted the
following information collection
[[Page 14422]]
requirement to OMB for review and clearance under the Paperwork
Reduction Act of 1995. This is the second notice for public comment;
the first was published in the Federal Register, and no comments were
received. NSF is forwarding the proposed submission to the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) for clearance simultaneously with the
publication of this second notice. The full submission may be found at:
http://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain.
DATES: Comments regarding these information collections are best
assured of having their full effect if received within 30 days of this
notification.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Office of Information and Regulatory
Affairs of OMB, Attention: Desk Officer for National Science
Foundation, 725 17th Street NW, Room 10235, Washington, DC 20503, and
Suzanne H. Plimpton, Reports Clearance Officer, National Science
Foundation, 2415 Eisenhower Avenue, Alexandria, VA 22314, or send email
to [email protected]. Individuals who use a telecommunications device
for the deaf (TDD) may call the Federal Information Relay Service
(FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339, which is accessible 24 hours a day, 7 days a
week, 365 days a year (including federal holidays).
Copies of the submission(s) may be obtained by calling 703-292-
7556.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NSF may not conduct or sponsor a collection
of information unless the collection of information displays a
currently valid OMB control number and the agency informs potential
persons who are to respond to the collection of information that such
persons are not required to respond to the collection of information
unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number.
Comments regarding (a) whether the collection of information is
necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency,
including whether the information will have practical utility; (b) the
accuracy of the agency's estimate of burden including the validity of
the methodology and assumptions used; (c) ways to enhance the quality,
utility and clarity of the information to be collected; (d) ways to
minimize the burden of the collection of information on those who are
to respond, including through the use of appropriate automated,
electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or
other forms of information technology should be addressed to the points
of contact in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section.
Title of Collection: Education and Human Resources Program
Monitoring Clearance.
OMB Number: 3145-0226.
Type of Request: Intent to seek approval to extend, with revisions,
an information collection.
Abstract: The National Science Foundation (NSF) requests re-
clearance of program accountability data collections that describe and
track the impact of NSF funding that focuses on the Nation's science,
technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and STEM
workforce. NSF funds grants, contracts, and cooperative agreements to
colleges, universities, and other eligible institutions, and provides
graduate research fellowships to individuals in all parts of the United
States and internationally.
The Directorate for Education and Human Resources (EHR), a unit
within NSF, promotes rigor and vitality within the Nation's STEM
education enterprise to further the development of the 21st century's
STEM workforce and public scientific literacy. EHR does this through
diverse projects and programs that support research, extension,
outreach, and hands-on activities that service STEM learning and
research at all institutional (e.g., pre-school through postdoctoral)
levels in formal and informal settings; and individuals of all ages
(birth and beyond). EHR also focuses on broadening participation in
STEM learning and careers among United States citizens, permanent
residents, and nationals, particularly those individuals traditionally
underemployed in the STEM research workforce, including but not limited
to women, persons with disabilities, and racial and ethnic minorities.
The scope of this information collection request will primarily
cover descriptive information gathered from education and training
(E&T) projects that are funded by NSF. NSF will primarily use the data
from this collection for program planning, management, and audit
purposes to respond to queries from the Congress, the public, NSF's
external merit reviewers who serve as advisors, including Committees of
Visitors (COVs), the NSF's Office of the Inspector General, and as a
basis for either internal or third-party evaluations of individual
programs.
The collections will generally include three categories of
descriptive data: (1) Staff and project participants (data that are
also necessary to determine individual-level treatment and control
groups for future third-party study or for internal evaluation); (2)
project implementation characteristics (also necessary for future use
to identify well-matched comparison groups); and (3) project outputs
(necessary to measure baseline for pre- and post- NSF-funding-level
impacts).
Use of the Information: This information is required for effective
administration, communication, program and project monitoring and
evaluation, and for measuring attainment of NSF's program, project, and
strategic goals, and as identified by the President's Accountability in
Government Initiative; GPRA, and the NSF's Strategic Plan. The
Foundation's FY 2014-2018 Strategic Plan may be found at: http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2014/nsf14043/nsf14043.pdf.
Since this collection will primarily be used for accountability and
evaluation purposes, including responding to queries from COVs and
other scientific experts, a census rather than sampling design
typically is necessary. At the individual project level funding can be
adjusted based on individual project's responses to some of the
surveys. Some data collected under this collection will serve as
baseline data for separate research and evaluation studies.
NSF-funded contract or grantee researchers and internal or external
evaluators in part may identify control, comparison, or treatment
groups for NSF's E&T portfolio using some of the descriptive data
gathered through this collection to conduct well-designed, rigorous
research and portfolio evaluation studies.
Respondents: Individuals or households, not-for-profit
institutions, business or other for profit, and Federal, State, local
or tribal government.
Number of Respondents: 2,511.
Burden on the Public: NSF estimates that a total reporting and
recordkeeping burden of 32,698 hours will result from activities to
monitor EHR STEM education programs. The calculation is shown in table
1.
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Table 1--Anticipated Programs That Will Collect Data on Project Progress and Outcomes Along With the Number of
Respondents and Burden Hours per Collection per Year.
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Number of Number of Annual hour
Collection title respondents responses burden
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Centers of Research Excellence in Science and Technology (CREST) 42 42 1,648
and Historically Black Colleges and Universities Research
Infrastructure for Science and Engineering (HBCU-RISE)
Monitoring System..............................................
Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship Program 513 521 3,242
(IGERT) Monitoring System......................................
Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP) 625 625 16,250
Monitoring System..............................................
Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation Bridge to the 56 56 1,008
Doctorate (LSAMP-BD) Monitoring System.........................
Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program (Noyce) Monitoring 550 550 6,050
System.........................................................
Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and 700 1,750 4,900
Mathematics (S-STEM) Monitoring System.........................
Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Talent 25 25 500
Expansion Program (STEP) Monitoring System.....................
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Total....................................................... 2,511 3,219 32,698
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Dated: April 5, 2019.
Suzanne H. Plimpton,
Reports Clearance Officer, National Science Foundation.
[FR Doc. 2019-07074 Filed 4-9-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7555-01-P