4036 Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 12 / Thursday, January 19, 1995 / Notices

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 onethird 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 doublespaced. 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:

psb@morrill.esusda.gov.
Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 12 / Thursday, January 19, 1995 / Notices 4037

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. Handdelivered 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

jjackman@morrill.esusda.gov (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]

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