II. Award Information

A. Funding Availability

The National Estuarine Research Reserve System of NOAA announces the availability of Graduate Research Fellowships. Based on funds available, the Estuarine Reserves Division anticipates that up to 22 Graduate Research Fellowships will be competitively awarded to provide funding to qualified graduate students whose research occurs within the boundaries of at least one National Estuarine Research Reserve.  Minority students are encouraged to apply. The amount of the fellowship is $20,000; at least 30% of total project cost match is required by the student's institution. To illustrate, the total project cost for a one year Graduate Research Fellowship is $28,572.  Twenty-thousand of this amount is supplied by the federal government with a minimum 30% non-federal match in the amount of $8,572 supplied by the student's eligible institution for a total 1 year project cost of $28,572.

B. Project/Award Period

This program announcement is for projects to be conducted by graduate students for one, two, or three-year periods of funding, with an anticipated start date of June 1, 2010. If an application is selected for only one year of funding, the NERR program has no obligation to provide additional funding in connection with that award in subsequent years. The student can, however, re-apply to the program at another time by following the same competitive process. A student cannot be supported for more than a total of three years under this fellowship. When a multi-year proposal is approved (two or three year award) the student does not need to re-apply for the second or third year of the program. Initially, funding will be provided for only the first year of the program; for each subsequent year of a multi-year proposal funding will be made available based on availability of funds and satisfactory progress of research as determined by the host reserve and the student's faculty advisor, in consultation with NOAA's Estuarine Reserves Division.

C. Type of Funding Instrument

The funding instrument for NERR Graduate Research Fellowship awards will be a grant issued to an eligible institution as described in section III, Eligibility Information.

D.  Cost Principles

The applicant may request funds under any of the following categories as long as the costs are reasonable and necessary to perform research: personnel, fringe benefits, travel, equipment, supplies, contractual, construction, other, and indirect.

The amount of federal funds requested must be matched by the student's eligible institution by at least 30% of the total project cost. Cash or in-kind contributions directly benefiting the research project may be used to satisfy the matching requirements. Waived indirect costs may also be used as match. Funds from other federal agencies and reserve staff salaries supported by federal funds may not be used as match. Up to 10% of the federal share may be used for overhead or indirect costs. Requirements for the non-federal share are contained in 15 CFR Part 14, Uniform administrative requirements for grants and agreements with institutions of higher education, hospitals, other nonprofit and commercial organizations and 15 CFR Part 24, Uniform administrative requirements for grants and agreements to state and local governments. The Estuarine Reserves Division strongly suggests that the applicant work with their Office of Sponsored Programs or similar Office of Research at their graduate or other eligible institution to develop their budget.

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For more information contact Alison Krepp.