Title: The Action Agenda for Engineering Curriculum Innovation
("Action Agenda") Program Announcement and Guidelines
Date: September 28, 1999
Replaces: NSF 98-27
THE ACTION AGENDA FOR ENGINEERING CURRICULUM INNOVATION
("ACTION AGENDA") PROGRAM
PROGRAM ANNOUNCEMENT
NSF 99-169
(REPLACES NSF 98-27)
DIRECTORATE FOR ENGINEERING
DIVISION OF ENGINEERING EDUCATION AND CENTERS
DEADLINE DATE: JANUARY 31, 2000
NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
The National Science Foundation promotes and advances
scientific progress in the United States by competitively
awarding grants for research and education in the sciences,
mathematics and engineering.
To get the latest information about program deadlines, to
download copies of NSF publications, and to access abstracts of
awards, visit the NSF Web site at:
http://www.nsf.gov
Location: 4201 Wilson Blvd.
Arlington, VA 22230
For General Information (NSF Information Center): (703) 306-1234
TDD (for the hearing-impaired): (703) 306-0090
To Order Publications or Forms:
Send an e-mail to:
pubs@nsf.gov
or telephone: (301) 947-2722
To Locate NSF Employees: (703) 306-1234
SUMMARY OF PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS
General Information
Program Name: The Action Agenda for Engineering
Curriculum Innovation
Short Description/Synopsis of Program:
The Action Agenda for Engineering Curriculum Innovation is
intended to support innovative proposals that will address one or
more of the issues mentioned in the PROGRAM DESCRIPTION section,
and in which there is a strong institutional commitment. The
proposals are expected to be highly focused, original, and have
well defined objectives. To ensure that the innovations have an
impact beyond the immediate surroundings where the work is done,
an education impact statement is required in each proposal. In
it, both the means for institutionalizing and propagating the
innovations and the proposed methods for assessing their impact
must be detailed.
Cognizant Program Officer(s): Dr. Ernest T. Smerdon,
Senior Education Associate, Room 585, Division of
Engineering Education and Centers, telephone 703-306-
1380, email: esmerdon@nsf.gov.
Applicable Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA)
No.: 47.041 - Engineering Grants
ELIGIBILITY
- Limitation on the categories of organizations that are
eligible to submit proposals: U.S. academic institutions with
undergraduate and/or graduate programs in engineering may submit
proposals in response to this announcement. Investigators
involved in existing NSF-funded research and education projects,
including centers and coalitions, are welcome to participate in
the program. A proposal involving collaborative or joint
arrangements with more than one institution must be submitted by
a lead institution, with the other institutions as sub-awardees.
The lead institution must have a college of engineering that is a
primary participant.
- PI eligibility limitations: Only one proposal may be
submitted in this competition by a given Principal Investigator
and he/she may only collaborate in one other proposal as a co-
Investigator. The principal investigator and any co-principal
investigator must be full-time, tenured, or tenure-track members
of a four-year degree granting engineering school. Record of
research and scholarship will be a major criterion for selection.
- Limitation on the number of proposals that may be submitted
by an organization: An institution may submit no more than two
(2) proposals in response to this announcement as the sole or
lead institution, in case of multi-institution proposals.
AWARD INFORMATION
- Type of award anticipated: Standard Grant
- Number of awards anticipated in FY 2000: Approximately ten
(10)
- Amount of funds available: Approximately $5.0 million will
be available for this initiative in FY 2000.
- Anticipated date of award: June 2000
- Proposal Preparation & Submission Instructions
- Proposal Preparation Instructions
- Letter of Intent requirements: None
- Preproposal requirements: None
- Proposal preparation instructions: Standard NSF Grant Proposal
Guide (GPG) instructions
- Supplemental proposal preparation instructions: None
- Deviations from standard (GPG) proposal preparation instructions:
None
- Budgetary Information
- Cost sharing: None
- Indirect cost (F&A) limitations: None
- Other budgetary limitations: Award amounts may not exceed
$500,000 total for projects with a duration of three years.
- FASTLANE REQUIREMENTS
- FastLane proposal preparation requirements: FastLane use required
- FastLane point of contact: Directorate for Engineering FastLane
representative
Cheryl Albus, 703-306-1302, email address: calbus@nsf.gov
- DEADLINE/TARGET DATES
- Full Proposal Deadline: 5:00 PM submitter's local time,
January 31, 2000 (via FastLane)
PROPOSAL REVIEW INFORMATION
- Merit Review Criteria: Standard National Science Board approved
criteria
AWARD ADMINISTRATION INFORMATION
- Grant Award Conditions: GC-1 or FDP-III
- Special grant conditions anticipated: None
- Special reporting requirements anticipated: None
INTRODUCTION
During its 50-year history the National Science Foundation (NSF)
has played a leading role in supporting research and education in
engineering and science. This helped enable the nation to become
preeminent in engineering and science. In turn, this was a major
factor for the U.S. to achieve unmatched economic strength
through introduction of new technology based products and
services and their continuous improvement. The Foundation is a
catalyst for the pursuit of excellence in both research and
education at U.S. universities, and through its many programs
provides leadership and support for improving learning in
engineering, science and mathematics. It promotes the
integration of education and research. The flexibility in
engineering education now possible under the Engineering Criteria
2000 of The Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology
(ABET) provides yet another stimulus for greater innovation in
undergraduate engineering education (www.abet.com).
This announcement for The Action Agenda for Engineering
Curriculum Innovation ("Action Agenda") comes at a time when
engineering education faces mounting challenges and rapidly
changing employment circumstances for engineers. More
engineering graduates will go into service industries, and more
will be employed in small companies. Many will need knowledge
and skills in areas of technology outside their engineering
specialty. Career-long learning will be more important than ever
as job and assignment changes become increasingly frequent.
Curriculum innovation will be a major source of education support
as graduates face these conditions in their careers.
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
The Action Agenda is intended to support innovative proposals
that will address one or more of the issues mentioned below and
in which there is strong institutional commitment. The program
is to be a catalyst in facilitating the exploration of
innovations that improve the quality of engineering education for
the next century. Thus, NSF through the Action Agenda program
seeks to increase the involvement of those members of engineering
faculty who are highly active in research and scholarly endeavors
in education innovation. Proposals must have strong support of
the university administration. Evidence of support of employers
of engineering graduates is desirable.
Proposals must be original, highly focused, and hold the promise
of producing a lasting and widespread impact. To enhance the
prospect of such an impact, an education impact plan is required
of each proposal. In it both the means for institutionalizing and
propagating the innovations and the proposed methods for
assessing their impact must be detailed. Proposals should focus
on a specific objective or set of objectives that are measurable.
An ever-present goal in the Action Agenda program is to attract
talented individuals to pursue engineering. Diversity in the
workforce continues to be a major issue. Projects that
incorporate intrinsically these goals are especially encouraged.
IMPORTANT OBJECTIVES
In addition to the general objectives given in earlier sections,
the following important objectives are significant selection
criteria for the successful proposals:
1. They serve some clearly identified and widely applicable needs.
2. They require an effort greater than could be reasonably borne as
part of normal faculty duty.
3. They are likely to have an impact well beyond the boundaries of the
participating institutions.
TARGETED AREAS OF OPPORTUNITY
The following areas of need are examples of particularly good
opportunities for curriculum innovation:
1. Major Technology Tracks
All engineering students, regardless of major, should be exposed
to one or more of the major technology developments of our time.
Information technology, microelectronics and micro-systems, and
biotechnology come readily to mind. Development of course
sequences that deal with these technology areas in some depth and
yet are available to students not majoring in these disciplines
would be important.
2. Curricula for Emerging Areas of Engineering
Exciting new areas of engineering have education requirements
that may be quite different from those of the established
disciplines. For example, pre-requisite requirements may be very
different. Bioengineering at the molecular level requires a great
depth of understanding in biology, far more than is normally
available to engineering students. Nanotechnology requires
techniques and use of tools that are fundamentally different from
most engineering disciplines and not widely available.
Innovations to deal with these difficulties are needed.
3. Structured Early Career Support
Graduates often find that their jobs require skills and knowledge
beyond the scope of the education they have received. Such gaps
are not easily filled by individual efforts without structured
assistance. Innovative proposals to provide such structured
assistance, possibly for a fee and at a distance, would be
appropriate.
SIGNIFICANT EFFORT
While we do not exclude the possibility of developing a course on
an unusual subject, we expect each proposal to deal with an
issue broader in scope than a single course. Teaming of faculty
members from different disciplines or different institutions is
particularly encouraged.
WEB SITES TO ENHANCE IMPACT
To enhance the potential of producing an impact beyond the
proposing institution, we require that each proposal spell out
how its innovation could be shared in forms other than papers in
journals or textbooks. Indeed, we strongly encourage each
proposal to include a Web site to which materials produced in
progress would be posted. In time, we envisage the establishment
of a "curated" repository to house interactive materials that can
be widely shared. To this end, interactive material to facilitate
self-learning is particularly encouraged. However, the design or
implementation of a repository is beyond the scope of this
announcement.
PROJECT ASSESSMENT/EVALUATION, IMPLEMENTATION AND DISSEMINATION
Projects supported under the Action Agenda program should be
innovative and experimental in character. Thus, it is essential
that the methodologies and results of each project be subjected
to careful evaluation to ensure that the objectives of the
project are being met by the resulting innovation. In order to
develop effective measures for evaluation, cooperation with
persons experienced in assessment and evaluation is strongly
encouraged. This system must include, as a minimum, measurable
objectives (for example, objectives for student learning);
procedures to measure their achievement; and a system for
monitoring the progress of the project in relation to these
measures.
NSF resource materials are available to assist institutions in
developing and implementing a sound educational assessment
program, including reports of the Education and Human Resources
Directorate, Division of Research, Evaluation, and Communication1
and engineering education evaluation workshops funded by the
Engineering Directorate Division of Engineering Education and
Centers2.
To achieve the desired national impact, project results must be
evaluated and then disseminated widely within the engineering
education community once they have been demonstrated effective in
accomplishing the project's objectives. The impact of a project
depends on the quality and utility of what is learned or produced
and upon the breadth and effectiveness of the related
dissemination activities. Therefore, the plan for dissemination
of project results is a very important component of Action Agenda
projects and should be carefully articulated in the proposal.
Multiple dissemination approaches are encouraged. If this project
involves the development of materials or publications which will
be disseminated commercially and in the event that an award is
made, the grantee is responsible for developing, documenting and
implementing a publication or distribution plan which includes,
at the minimum, the following elements:
- Procedures to be followed for selection of a publisher or
distributor so as to ensure reasonable competition or
justification for non-competitive selection;
- Delineation of the criteria used in the selection of the
publisher or distributor; and
- Steps taken to prevent conflicts of interest in the
selection of a publisher or distributor.
The Grantee shall ensure that the publisher or distributor of any
material supported under this NSF award agrees to provide the
Government with a nonexclusive, nontransferable, irrevocable,
royalty-free license to exercise or have exercised for or on
behalf of the United States throughout the world all the
exclusive rights provided by copyright. Such license does not
include the right to sell copies or photo records of the
copyrighted works to the public. Any publication or distribution
agreement must be consistent with NSF's Grant Policy Manual (NSF
95-26) and the Grant General Conditions.
It is expected that the institution(s) involved in an Action
Agenda project will provide the leadership needed to ensure that
the education innovations developed as a result of the project
will be implemented and institutionalized. Therefore, please
include in the proposal a milestone chart showing development,
pilot studies, implementation, evaluation, dissemination, and
completion of deliverables.
ELIGIBILITY
U.S. academic institutions with undergraduate and/or graduate
programs in engineering may submit proposals in response to
this announcement. Investigators involved in existing NSF-
funded research and education projects, including centers and
coalitions, are welcome to participate in the program. A
proposal involving collaborative or joint arrangements with
more than one institution must be submitted by a lead
institution, with the other institutions as sub-awardees.
The lead institution must have a college of engineering that
is a primary participant.
Only one proposal may be submitted in this competition by a given
Principal Investigator and he/she may only collaborate in one
other proposal as a co-Investigator. The principal investigator
and any co-principal investigator must be full-time, tenured, or
tenure-track members of a four-year degree granting engineering
school. Record of research and scholarship will be a major
criterion for selection.
An institution may submit no more than two (2)
proposals in response to this announcement as the sole
or lead institution, in case of multi-institution
proposals.
The primary focus of this program announcement is on curriculum
innovation. All proposals responding to this announcement must
incorporate as their primary focus some aspect of curriculum
innovation.
Proposals must include an education impact plan as explained
above.
AWARD INFORMATION
Under this announcement, proposals may be submitted for any
funding amount up to $500,000 total for up to three years.
Grants may be awarded in a wide variety of sizes and durations.
NSF expects to fund approximately 10 standard research awards
depending on the quality of submissions and the availability of
funds. Approximately $5.0 million will be available for this
initiative in FY 2000. Anticipated date of awards: June 2000.
PROPOSAL PREPARATION & SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS
A. Proposal Preparation Instructions.
Proposals submitted in response to this program announcement
should be prepared and submitted in accordance with the general
guidelines contained in the Grant Proposal Guide (GPG), NSF 00-2.
The complete text of the GPG (including electronic forms) is
available electronically on the NSF Web site at:
. Paper copies of the GPG may be obtained
from the NSF Publications Clearinghouse, telephone 301.947.2722
or by e-mail from pubs@nsf.gov.
Proposers are reminded to identify the program announcement
number (NSF 99-169) in the program announcement/solicitation
block on the NSF Form 1207, "Cover Sheet for Proposal to the
National Science Foundation." Compliance with this requirement
is critical to determining the relevant proposal processing
guidelines. Failure to submit this information may delay
processing.
No videotapes, diskettes, textbooks, or CD-ROMs will be accepted.
Proposals not adhering to the guidelines set forth above will be
returned to the Principal Investigator without review.
FastLane is required.
B. Budgetary Information
Cost Sharing Requirements - None
C. Proposal Due Dates.
Full proposals MUST be submitted by 5 p.m. (Submitter's Local
Time) January 31, 2000. Copies of the signed proposal sheet must
be submitted in accordance with the instructions identified
below.
Submission of Signed Cover Sheets. The signed proposal Cover
Sheet (NSF Form 1207)
must be forwarded to the following address and received by NSF by
February 7, 2000:
Announcement No. NSF 99-169
Attn: Ernest Smerdon
National Science Foundation
4201 Wilson Blvd., Room 585
Arlington, VA 22230
All proposals or any supporting materials or letters submitted in
response to this announcement
that are received after the deadline dates cited above will be
returned without review.
D. FastLane Requirements.
Proposers must prepare and submit proposals using the NSF
FastLane system. Detailed instructions for proposal preparation
and submission via FastLane are available at
https://www.fastlane.nsf.gov/a1/newstan.htm.
Submission of Signed Cover Sheets. For proposals submitted
electronically, the signed paper copy of the proposal Cover Sheet
(NSF Form 1207) should be forwarded to NSF within five working
days following proposal submission in accordance with FastLane
proposal preparation and submission instructions referenced
above.
PROPOSAL REVIEW INFORMATION
A. Merit Review Criteria.
Reviews of proposals submitted to NSF are solicited from peers
with expertise in the substantive area of the proposed research
or education project. These reviewers are selected by Program
officers charged with the oversight of the review process. NSF
invites the proposer to suggest, at the time of submission, the
names of appropriate or inappropriate reviewers. Care is taken
to ensure that reviewers have no conflicts with the proposer.
Special efforts are made to recruit reviewers from non-academic
institutions, minority serving institutions or adjacent
disciplines to that principally addressed in the proposal.
Proposals will be reviewed against the following general merit
review criteria established by the National Science Board.
Following each criterion are potential considerations that the
reviewer may employ in the evaluation. These are suggestions and
not all will apply to any given proposal. Each reviewer will be
asked to address only those that are relevant to the proposal and
for which he/she is qualified to make judgments.
What is the intellectual merit of the proposed activity?
How important is the proposed activity to advancing knowledge
and understanding within its own field or across different
fields? How well qualified is the proposer (individual or team)
to conduct the project? (If appropriate, the reviewer will
comment on the quality of prior work.) To what extent does the
proposed activity suggest and explore creative and original
concepts? How well conceived and organized is the proposed
activity? Is there sufficient access to resources?
What are the broader impacts of the proposed activity?
How well does the activity advance discovery and understanding
while promoting teaching, training, and learning? How well
does the proposed activity broaden the participation of
underrepresented groups (e.g., gender, ethnicity, disability,
geographic, etc.)? To what extent will it enhance the
infrastructure for research and education, such as facilities,
instrumentation, networks, and partnerships? Will the results
be disseminated broadly to enhance scientific and technological
understanding? What may be the benefits of the proposed
activity to society?
PIs should address the following elements in their proposal to
provide reviewers with the information necessary to respond fully
to both NSF merit review criteria. NSF staff will give these
factors careful consideration in making funding decisions.
Integration of Research and Education
One of the principal strategies in support of NSF's goals is to
foster integration of research and education through the
programs, projects and activities it supports at academic and
research institutions. These institutions provide abundant
opportunities where individuals may concurrently assume
responsibilities as researchers, educators, and students and
where all can engage in joint efforts that infuse education with
the excitement of discovery and enrich research through the
diversity of learner perspectives.
Integrating Diversity into NSF Programs, Projects, and Activities
Broadening opportunities and enabling the participation of all
citizens -- women and men, underrepresented minorities, and
persons with disabilities -- are essential to the health and
vitality of science and engineering. NSF is committed to this
principle of diversity and deems it central to the programs,
projects, and activities it considers and supports.
B. Review Protocol and Associated Customer Service Standard
All proposals are carefully reviewed by at least three other
persons outside NSF who are experts in the particular field
represented by the proposal. Proposals submitted in response to
this announcement will be reviewed by a panel review.
Reviewers will be asked to formulate a recommendation to either
support or decline each proposal. A program officer assigned to
manage the proposal's review will consider the advice of
reviewers and will formulate a recommendation. NSF will be able
to tell applicants whether their proposals have been declined or
recommended for funding within six months for 95 percent of
proposals. The time interval begins on the proposal deadline or
target date or from the date of receipt, if deadlines or target
dates are not used by the program. The interval ends when the
division director accepts the program officer's recommendation.
In all cases, after programmatic approval has been obtained, the
proposals recommended for funding will be forwarded to the
Division of Grants and Agreements for review of business,
financial, and policy implications and the processing and
issuance of a grant or other agreement. Proposers are cautioned
that only a Grants Officer may make commitments, obligations or
awards on behalf of NSF or authorize the expenditure of funds. No
commitment on the part of NSF should be inferred from technical
or budgetary discussions with an NSF Program officer. A
principal investigator or organization that makes financial or
personnel commitments in the absence of a grant or cooperative
agreement signed by the NSF Grants Officer does so at its own
risk.
AWARD ADMINISTRATION INFORMATION
A. Notification of the Award.
Notification of the award is made to the submitting organization
by a Grants Officer in the Division of Grants and Agreements
(DGA). Organizations whose proposals are declined will be
advised as promptly as possible by the cognizant NSF Program
Division administering the program. Verbatim copies of reviews,
not including the identity of the reviewer, will be provided
automatically to the Principal Investigator.
B. Grant Award Conditions.
An NSF grant consists of: (1) the award letter, which includes
any special provisions applicable to the grant and any numbered
amendments thereto; (2) the budget, which indicates the amounts,
by categories of expense, on which NSF has based its support (or
otherwise communicates any specific approvals or disapprovals of
proposed expenditures); (3) the proposal referenced in the award
letter; (4) the applicable grant conditions, such as Grant
General Conditions (NSF GC-1)* or Federal Demonstration
Partnership Phase III (FDP) Terms and Conditions* and (5) any NSF
brochure, program guide, announcement or other NSF issuance that
may be incorporated by reference in the award letter. Electronic
mail notification is the preferred way to transmit NSF grants to
organizations that have electronic mail capabilities and have
requested such notification from the Division of Grants and
Agreements.
* These documents may be accessed electronically on NSF's Web
site at: . Paper copies may be obtained
from the NSF Publications Clearinghouse, telephone 301.947.2722
or by e-mail from pubs@nsf.gov.
More comprehensive information on NSF Award Conditions is
contained in the NSF Grant Policy Manual (GPM) Chapter II, (NSF
95-26) available electronically on the NSF Web site. The GPM
also is available in paper copy by subscription from the
Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office,
Washington, DC 20402. The GPM may be ordered through the GPO Web
site at: . The telephone number at GPO for
subscription information is 202.512.1800.
C. Reporting Requirements.
For all multi-year grants (including both standard and continuing
grants), the PI must submit an annual project report to the
cognizant Program Officer at least 90 days before the end of the
current budget period.
Within 90 days after expiration of a grant, the PI also is
required to submit a final project report. Approximately 30 days
before expiration, NSF will send a notice to remind the PI of the
requirement to file the final project report. Failure to provide
final technical reports delays NSF review and processing of
pending proposals for that PI. PIs should examine the formats of
the required reports in advance to assure availability of
required data.
NSF has implemented a new electronic project reporting system,
available through FastLane, which permits electronic submission
and updating of project reports, including information on:
project participants (individual and organizational); activities
and findings; publications; and, other specific products and
contributions. Reports will continue to be required annually and
after the expiration of the grant, but PIs will not need to re-
enter information previously provided, either with the proposal
or in earlier updates using the electronic system.
Effective October 1, 1999, PIs are required to use the new
FastLane reporting system for submission of annual and final
project reports.
D. New Awardee Information.
If the submitting organization has never received an NSF award,
it is recommended that the organization's appropriate
administrative officials become familiar with the policies and
procedures in the NSF Grant Policy Manual which are applicable to
most NSF awards. The "Prospective New Awardee Guide" (NSF 99-78)
includes information on: Administrative and Management
Information; Accounting System Requirements and Auditing
Information; and Payments to Organizations with NSF Awards. This
information will assist an organization in preparing documents
that NSF requires to conduct administrative and financial reviews
of an organization. The guide also serves as a means of
highlighting the accountability requirements associated with
Federal awards. This document is available electronically on
NSF's Web site at: .
CONTACTS FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
General inquiries should be made to the Action Agenda for
Engineering Curriculum Innovation ("Action Agenda") Program, Dr.
Ernest Smerdon, Program Officer, Room 585, Division of
Engineering Education and Centers, National Science Foundation,
Arlington, VA 22230, telephone 703.306.1380, e-mail:
esmerdon@nsf.gov. For questions related to use of FastLane,
contact Cheryl Albus, Directorate for Engineering FastLane
Coordinator, 703.306.1302, calbus@nsf.gov.
OTHER PROGRAMS OF INTEREST
The NSF Guide to Programs is a compilation of funding for
research and education in science, mathematics, and engineering.
General descriptions of NSF programs, research areas, and
eligibility information for proposal submission are provided in
each chapter. Many NSF programs offer announcements concerning
specific proposal requirements. To obtain additional information
about these requirements, contact the appropriate NSF program
offices listed in Appendix A of the GPG. Any changes in NSF's
fiscal year programs occurring after press time for the Guide to
Programs will be announced in the NSF Bulletin, available monthly
(except July and August), and in individual program
announcements. The Bulletin is available electronically via the
NSF Web Site at. The direct URL for recent issues of the
Bulletin is
http://www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/news/publicat/bulletin/bulletin.htm
Subscribers can also sign up for NSF's Custom News Service to
find out what funding opportunities are available.
ABOUT THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
The National Science Foundation (NSF) funds research and
education in most fields of science and engineering. Grantees
are wholly responsible for conducting their project activities
and preparing the results for publication. Thus, the Foundation
does not assume responsibility for such findings or their
interpretation.
NSF welcomes proposals from all qualified scientists, engineers
and educators. The Foundation strongly encourages women,
minorities, and persons with disabilities to compete fully in its
programs. In accordance with federal statutes, regulations, and
NSF policies, no person on grounds of race, color, age, sex,
national origin, or disability shall be excluded from
participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to
discrimination under any program or activity receiving financial
assistance from NSF (unless otherwise specified in the
eligibility requirements for a particular program).
Facilitation Awards for Scientists and Engineers with
Disabilities (FASED) provide funding for special assistance or
equipment to enable persons with disabilities (investigators and
other staff, including student research assistants) to work on
NSF-supported projects. See the program announcement or contact
the program coordinator at (703) 306-1636.
The National Science Foundation has Telephonic Device for the
Deaf (TDD) and Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS)
capabilities that enable individuals with hearing impairments to
communicate with the Foundation regarding NSF programs,
employment, or general information. TDD may be accessed at (703)
306-0090 or through FIRS on 1-800-877-8339.
We want all of our communications to be clear and understandable.
If you have suggestions on how we can improve this document or
other NSF publications, please email us at plainlanguage@nsf.gov.
PRIVACY ACT AND PUBLIC BURDEN STATEMENTS
The information requested on proposal forms and project reports
is solicited under the authority of the National Science
Foundation Act of 1950, as amended. The information on proposal
forms will be used in connection with the selection of qualified
proposals; project reports submitted by awardees will be used for
program evaluation and reporting within the Executive Branch and
to Congress. The information requested may be disclosed to
qualified reviewers and staff assistants as part of the review
process; to applicant institutions/grantees to provide or obtain
data regarding the proposal review process, award decisions, or
the administration of awards; to government contractors, experts,
volunteers and researchers and educators as necessary to complete
assigned work; to other government agencies needing information
as part of the review process or in order to coordinate programs;
and to another Federal agency, court or party in a court or
Federal administrative proceeding if the government is a party.
Information about Principal Investigators may be added to the
Reviewer file and used to select potential candidates to serve as
peer reviewers or advisory committee members. See Systems of
Records, NSF-50, "Principal Investigator/Proposal File and
Associated Records," 63 Federal Register 267 (January 5, 1998),
and NSF-51, "Reviewer/Proposal File and Associated Records," 63
Federal Register 268 (January 5, 1998). Submission of the
information is voluntary. Failure to provide full and complete
information, however, may reduce the possibility of receiving an
award.
Public reporting burden for this collection of information is
estimated to average 120 hours per response, including the time
for reviewing instructions. Send comments regarding this burden
estimate and any other aspect of this collection of information,
including suggestions for reducing this burden, to: Reports
Clearance Officer; Information Dissemination Branch, DAS;
National Science Foundation; Arlington, VA 22230.
YEAR 2000 REMINDER
In accordance with Important Notice No. 120 dated June 27, 1997,
Subject: Year 2000 Computer Problem, NSF awardees are reminded of
their responsibility to take appropriate actions to ensure that
the NSF activity being supported is not adversely affected by the
Year 2000 problem. Potentially affected items include: computer
systems, databases, and equipment. The National Science
Foundation should be notified if an awardee concludes that the
Year 2000 will have a significant impact on its ability to carry
out an NSF funded activity. Information concerning Year 2000
activities can be found on the NSF web site at
http://www.nsf.gov/oirm/y2k/start.htm.
Catalogue of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) No.: 47.041 -
Engineering Grants
OMB No.: 3145-0058
NSF 99-169 (replaces NSF 98-27)
_______________________________
1 Floraline Stevens, et al., "User-Friendly Handbook for Project
Evaluation: Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology
Education," NSF Division of Research, Evaluation, and
Communications, Directorate for Education and Human Resources, NSF
93-152, National Science Foundation, 1993 (reprinted in 1996).
Joy Frechtling and Laure Sharp, "User-Friendly Handbook for
Mixed Method Evaluations," NSF Division of Research, Evaluation,
and Communications, Directorate for Education and Human
Resources, NSF 97-153, National Science Foundation, 1997.
2 Gloria M. Rogers and Jean K. Sando, "Stepping Ahead: An
Assessment Plan Development Guide," Report of an NSF-Supported
Workshop on Outcomes Assessment, Rose-Hulman Institute of
Technology, Terre Haute, IN, 1996.