[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

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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.....................
                                                                 -----------------------------------------------
    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