Full Text TW-94-001

MINORITY INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH TRAINING GRANTS

NIH GUIDE, Volume 22, Number 37, October 15, 1993

RFA:  TW-94-001

P.T. 44, FF

Keywords: 
  Biomedical Research Training 


Fogarty International Center
Office of Research on Minority Health

Application Receipt Date:  March 16, 1994

PURPOSE

The Fogarty International Center (FIC) and the Office of Research on
Minority Health (ORMH) support a program to provide international
research training opportunities for minority undergraduate students,
minority graduate students, and minority faculty members in
biomedical and behavioral research.  Training grant awards will be
made for three years to U.S. colleges and universities for the
purposes of encouraging minority students to pursue degrees and
careers in the biomedical sciences by broadening their undergraduate
and graduate education through international experiences; promoting
qualities of leadership by expanding cultural perspectives and to
help prepare the next generation of scientific leaders to work
effectively in a global environment; and establishing linkages
between U.S. scientists and institutions and established centers of
biomedical research abroad.

Some or all of the following three components may be included within
each institutional award:  first, the international research training
program for pre-baccalaureate minority students pursuing life science
curricula to conduct short-term research and coursework abroad for
approximately 8 to 12 weeks; second, a predoctoral program to enable
minority students enrolled in graduate research degree programs to
receive research training for 3 to 12 months at foreign institutions;
and third, the international faculty development program for
individual minority faculty to conduct research at foreign
institutions for 3 to 12 months.

Applications may be submitted from individual U.S. institutions or
from consortia of U.S. institutions with one lead institution.  For
the purposes of this program, consortia will link institutions that
have active international programs with those with limited
international research training programs.

ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

These institutional training grants will be awarded to U.S.
institutions for the purpose of collaborating with one or more
foreign research centers that can provide a substantial research
training experience for the U.S. minority participants.  The
applicant institution and any associated institution in a consortium
must be a two- or four-year domestic school, college, or university.
Minority participants must be from underrepresented minority groups,
including African Americans, Hispanic Americans, American Indians,
and Pacific Islanders.  The program director at the applicant
institution will be responsible for the selection and appointment of
participants, selection of the foreign training site(s), and the
overall direction of the training program.  Participating students
and faculty members must be members of the minority groups listed
above and be U.S. citizens or permanent U.S. residents and be
pursuing degrees, studying, and/or conducting research in the
biomedical or behavioral sciences at the time of appointment.

The foreign research centers should be universities, colleges or
other research institutions that have strong, well-established
biomedical or behavioral research and research training programs.
Close cooperation between the U.S. and foreign institutions and
scientists will be needed to provide the trainees with a foreign
mentor or collaborator who is recognized as an accomplished
investigator and who will participate in their research training.

Undergraduate student trainees must be pre-baccalaureate, pursuing a
relevant biomedical or behavioral science curriculum and must show
evidence of a commitment to obtaining a postgraduate research related
degree in a biomedical or behavioral field of science. The foreign
training for undergraduate students will usually be for 8 to 12
weeks.  One faculty person may accompany each group of four to eight
minority students and act as a general advisor/mentor during the
study abroad.  Faculty members serving this purpose are not required
to belong to any minority group.  They must hold full-time tenure
track or tenured faculty positions at the grantee institution, hold a
doctoral level degree and have a biomedical research plan to be
conducted at the host institution.

Predoctoral students must be enrolled in a U.S. graduate research
training program in the biomedical or behavioral sciences.  The
predoctoral training period may be from 3 to 12 months for the
purpose of learning a technique or carrying out a special project or
portion of a project related to their doctoral studies.

The minority faculty development portion of the training grant will
provide support for research and studies for 3 to 12 months at a
foreign training site.  Participants must have regular full-time
faculty appointments at the grantee institutions or an institution in
the consortium.  The research plan must indicate the expected
benefits of the proposed work.

Students and faculty must be affiliated with a U.S. college or
university at the time of selection; however, the affiliation need
not be with the grantee institution.

MECHANISMS OF SUPPORT

The mechanism of support is the institutional training grant award
(T32).  Domestic institutions may request up to three years of
support.  The stipend level during the period of foreign stay is
$1,000 per month for undergraduate and graduate students and $3,000
per month for the faculty member.  Stipends may be supplemented from
non-Federal sources only.  Requests may be made for training-related
expenses for undergraduate and graduate students and faculty of up to
$500 per month each for health insurance, foreign tuition and fees,
and other education-related expenses at the foreign training site.
Research expenses for use at the foreign training site of up to $500
per month may be requested for each undergraduate student, graduate
student, or faculty member.  Foreign living expenses will be $1,000
per month for undergraduate and graduate students and $2,000 per
month for faculty members.  Travel expenses may also be requested
from the home institution to the foreign training site and return.
Appointments may range from 8 to 12 weeks for undergraduates, 3 to 12
months for the predoctoral students and 3 to 12 months for faculty.
Stipends, training and travel expenses are offered only during the
time period participants are en route to or working in the foreign
country.  No expenses are provided for domestic training.  If
specially justified, the domestic applicant institution may request
up to five percent of the requested total direct costs for the
support of the Principal Investigator and/or other grant-related
personnel for domestic administrative efforts.  Indirect costs will
be awarded to the grantee institution at a rate of eight percent of
the allowable direct costs.  Each of the training grant awards will
not exceed a total of $400,000 per year, including direct and
indirect costs.

Additional direct support for the minority student participants on
return to the U.S. may be available from the FIC for attendance at
scientific meetings to present the results of their foreign research
experience.

FUNDS AVAILABLE

It is expected that 10 to 12 awards will be made in FY 1994.

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

The Minority International Research Training grants are designed to
offer research training grant awards to enable qualified minority
undergraduate students, graduate students, and faculty members to
participate in international biomedical and behavioral research
programs.  This program is designed to supplement the current
programs of the FIC available to all scientists.  They include the
Fogarty International Research Collaboration Award (FIRCA), which
supports NIH grantees for the purpose of adding a foreign
collaboration with scientists in Central and Eastern Europe, Latin
America or Sub-Saharan Africa to their ongoing NIH supported research
program and the Senior International Fellowship (SIF), which supports
U.S. scientists for up to 12 months at foreign research work sites.
The SIF fellowship may be used over three years, taking up to three
separate trips for a minimum of three months each.

This training grant program is expected to attract students and
scientists in the developmental stages of their education and
careers, to increase their awareness of international research
opportunities and to acquaint them with the full range of career
opportunities in biomedical and behavioral research.  Minority
faculty members are expected to gain experience that will contribute
to the research and teaching programs at their U.S. institution.
Their association with the foreign institution will, in many cases,
provide future undergraduate and graduate research training sites.
The components of the training grant may include the following:

A.  The Undergraduate Research Training Program

This component of the training grant will offer a biomedical research
experience for minority undergraduate students at research centers
abroad where arrangements have been made to house and train students
for 8 to 12 weeks, at any appropriate time of the year.  The training
may include short courses in the language and culture of the host
country and/or academic college level courses in the biomedical or
behavioral sciences.  Also, research training experiences must occupy
approximately half of each weekday.  Support for the undergraduate
students will be available only while abroad.  Each group of four to
eight students may be accompanied by a faculty member who would also
conduct research, preferably at or at least near the location of the
students.  The faculty member would act as a mentor to the minority
students and may receive support from this training grant while with
the students.  The student research projects might include collection
of data, samples, or other information for research purposes but may
not involve routine clinical laboratory work without a research
component.

B.  The Predoctoral Program

The training grant may include a predoctoral component that will
provide support for research training of minority predoctoral
students at a foreign institution for 3 to 12 months as part of the
requirement for the graduate research degree program (but not
professional degree programs such as M.D., O.D., D.D.S., Pharm.D., or
D.V.M. programs) in which the student is enrolled.  The minority
student will receive support from the training grant for the foreign
training portion only and the application must demonstrate the
benefit of foreign training that may include some course work but
must be primarily for the conduct of research, to learn a technique,
to participate in a study, or to utilize a unique resource or study
population.

C.  The International Faculty Program

Within this institutional training grant, the faculty development
program supports minority faculty members employed at U.S. colleges
and universities to carry out international collaborative research
abroad for periods of from 3 to 12 months.  Faculty members will be
selected by the grantee institution and will conduct studies and
research on a biomedically related topic in collaboration with the
foreign laboratory.  The U.S. faculty member must have a
doctoral-level degree or equivalent experience and training.  The
purpose of this program is to enhance the current research skills of
the investigator by providing a new research direction or an
extension of his or her current research activities or for providing
a unique site that offers a special research facility or special
human or animal study population.  The research experience will also
benefit the faculty member's ability to communicate new scientific
concepts and directions in international developments in science in
his/her role as an instructor at the U.S. grantee institution or at
his or her home institution.  In addition to the conduct of the
research, this program may be used to develop a site or sites for the
foreign research activities of the undergraduate students.  The
faculty member may accompany students participating in the
undergraduate research program while also conducting research.

The FIC and ORMH staff will closely follow the progress of each
training grant program through site visits and periodic meetings of
program directors.

APPLICATION PROCEDURES

Applications are to be submitted on the Public Health Service grant
application form PHS 398 (rev. 9/91), using the special instructions
related to Institutional National Research Services Awards (Section
VII).  Note the requirement to use NRSA substitute pages MM, NN, and
OO to be acceptable for initial review.  Application kits are
available at most institutional offices of sponsored research and may
also be obtained from the Office of Grants Information, Division of
Research Grants, National Institutes of Health, Westwood Building,
Room 449, Bethesda, MD 20892, telephone 301-710-0267.

The title and number of the announcement must be typed in section 2a
on the face page of the application.  The completed application and
three legible copies must be sent or delivered to the following
address and received by March 16, 1994:

Division of Research Grants
National Institutes of Health
Westwood Building, Room 240
Bethesda, MD  20892**

In addition, two copies of the complete application must be sent to
Dr. David A. Wolff at the address listed under INQUIRIES.

REVIEW CONSIDERATIONS

All applications responding to this announcement will be reviewed for
scientific and technical merit by an NIH initial review group,
followed by a second level review by the Fogarty International Center
Advisory Board.  To be eligible for review, applications must be
complete and submitted in accordance with the application procedures
stated above.  Reviewers will pay particular attention to the
proposed method of selecting participating faculty and students, the
past or potential capability of the institutions to carry out this
type of program, the proposed benefit to the participants and the
justification for selecting the foreign training site(s).  Letters
from the foreign collaborator and their institutional officials
indicating their willingness to participate in this training program,
must accompany the application.

AWARD CRITERIA

Applications will compete for funds assigned to the Minority
International Research Training Grant Program of the Fogarty
International Center.  The following will be considered in making
funding decisions:  how the proposal will contribute to the
achievement of the program's objectives; scientific, technical, and
educational merit of the application as determined by peer review;
and availability of funds.

INQUIRIES

Written and telephone inquiries concerning this RFA are encouraged.
The opportunity to clarify any issues or questions from potential
applicants is welcome.

Direct inquiries regarding programmatic issues to:

Dr. David A. Wolff
Chief, International Research and Awards Branch
Fogarty International Center
Building 31, Room B2C39
Bethesda, MD  20892
Telephone:  (301) 496-1653
FAX:  (301) 402-0779

Direct inquiries regarding fiscal matter to:

Silvia Mandes
International Research and Awards Branch
Fogarty International Center
Building 31, Boom B2C39
Bethesda, MD  20892
Telephone:  (301) 496-1653
FAX:  (301) 402-0779

AUTHORITY AND REGULATIONS

Awards will be made under the authority of the Public Health Service
Act, Title III, Part A, Section 307b (42 USC 242l), and administered
under PHS grants policies and Federal regulations, most specifically
42 CFR part 61.  This program is not subject to the intergovernmental
review requirements of Executive Order 12372 or to Health Systems
Agency review.

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