Food and Agriculture Science Enhancement Grants (FASE) Liang-Shiou Lin National Program Leader NIFA llin@nifa.usda.gov 202-401-5045

FASE Grants Limited to AFRI programs Strengthen science capabilities in research, education, and/or extension programs Help institutions develop competitive scientific programs Attract new scientists into careers in high-priority areas

AFRI Grant Types Standard Grants (research; education; extension; or integrated) Conference Grants Food and Agricultural Science Enhancement (FASE) Grants (restricted eligibility)

FASE Grant Types Pre-doctoral Fellowship Grants Post-doctoral Fellowship Grants New Investigator Grants Strengthening Grants: Seed Grants Sabbatical Grants Equipment Grants Strengthening Standard Grants 2.5% of AFRI budget set aside for fellowships, 7.5% set aside for Strengthening Grants

Separate RFA and review panel for Fellowships Pre-doctoral Fellowships: $75,000/2 years (stipend, tuition, fees, fringe benefits, supplies, travel) Research or education Applicants must have completed qualifying exam by proposal deadline Must be U.S. citizen, national or permanent resident Post-doctoral Fellowships: $130,000/2 years (salary, fringe benefits, supplies, travel, publication) Research, education, extension or integrated Doctoral degree awarded in a time window specified in RFA Separate RFA and review panel for Fellowships

New Investigator Grants: Less than 5 years of postgraduate, career-track experience Research, education, and/or extension Has not received competitive Federal research funds beyond pre- or postdoctoral grants or AFRI seed grants No specific RFA: identify AFRI program for your topic and submit to that program by its deadlines Proposal same as non-new investigator except box checked indicating eligibility

Strengthening Grants (seed, sabbatical, equipment, strengthening standard) Eligibility Limited to EPSCoR states, small and mid-sized or minority-serving degree-granting institutions with limited institutional success EPSCoR = Experimental Program for Stimulating Competitive Research. States with a funding level no higher than the 38th percentile of all states from AFRI during previous 3 years (19 states). EPSCoR states are recalculated every year; states can move in and out of the list

FY 2013 USDA EPSCoR States Alabama Alaska Connecticut Idaho Kentucky Maine Mississippi Montana Nevada New Hampshire New Mexico North Dakota Oklahoma Rhode Island South Carolina Utah Vermont West Virginia Wyoming

Other USDA EPSCoR Eligible Entities American Samoa District of Columbia Guam Micronesia Northern Mariana Islands Puerto Rico Virgin Islands of the U.S.

EPSCoR States for the Last Ten Years 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 Alabama   Alaska Arkansas Connecticut Delaware Hawaii Idaho Kentucky Louisiana Maine Mississippi Montana Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico North Dakota Oklahoma Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Vermont West Virginia Wyoming

Strengthening Grant Eligibility (cont’d) Small and mid-sized = current total enrollment of 17,500 or less Minority-serving = enrollment of a single minority group or a combination of minority groups exceeds 50 percent of the total enrollment Limited institutional success = not among the most successful universities and colleges for receiving Federal funds for science and engineering research and development (Table 1 in RFA)

Strengthening Grant Types: Seed Grants ($150,000/2 years): Collect preliminary data for future AFRI funding Single function research, education or extension Sabbatical Grants: Up to one year of salary, funds for travel & supplies; mini-sabbaticals also appropriate Equipment Grants: 50% of cost or $50,000 (whichever is less) for one piece of equipment ($10,000-250,000). Requires Non-federal matching, but waivers (<$25K) for lowest one third institutions (Table 2 in RFA) 7-page limitation (project narrative) for these three grant types

Strengthening Grant Types (cont.) Strengthening Standard Grants: Research, education, and/or extension Proposal same as standard proposal (18 pages) except box checked indicating eligibility No specific RFA for any of the strengthening grant types: identify AFRI program for your topic and submit to that program by its deadlines No specific panel; reviewed with standard proposals in same panel

How it works (2 funding chances in a program!) All 18-page proposals first compete against each other & ranked (including New Investigators and strengthening standards) Program can support top X number of applications with 92.5% of program funds (=initial funding cut-off) 7.5% of program funds available to support other meritorious strengthening standard proposals below initial funding cut-off No set-aside funds for new investigators, but program can go below cut-off to fund a NI proposal 7-page seed/sabbatical/equipment grants ranked separately

Helpful eligibility flow chart Last Page Of AFRI RFA’s