The National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) announces the availability of funds for Administrative Supplements to institutions with undergraduate NIGMS training (T34) or certain research education (R25, see below) awards. The funds will support the development and implementation of curricular or training activities to improve the research training environment. Examples include, but are not limited to:

• Course-based research experiences
• Interdisciplinary or integrated science courses or curricula
• Training modules to be incorporated into existing courses to develop the following skills required for careers in the biomedical research workforce:
  • technical (e.g., appropriate methods, technologies, and quantitative/computational approaches)
  • operational (e.g., independent knowledge acquisition, rigorous experimental design, and interpretation of data)
  • professional (e.g., management, leadership, communication, and teamwork)

NIGMS is particularly interested in supporting the development of activities that will improve student quantitative and computational skills.

Supplement awardees are expected to present an overview of the funded activities, the outcomes, and the progress in incorporating the activities into the ongoing program(s) at the meeting organized for Program Directors/Principal Investigators of NIGMS Training, Workforce Development, and Diversity programs.

Eligibility

Applicants must have an NIGMS-funded training (T34), certain research education (R25, see below) with undergraduates anda project end date of May 31, 2021 or later. Awards in No-Cost Extension (NCE) are not eligible. Only R25 awards supporting undergraduates in the following programs (and associated funding opportunity announcements) are eligible for these supplements:

• Bridges to Baccalaureate (PAR-13-333; PAR-16-110; PAR-17-210)
• Initiative for Maximizing Student Development (IMSD) (PAR-17-053; PAR-14-121)
• Research Initiative for Scientific Enhancement (RISE) (PAR-13-196; PAR-16-118; PAR-16-361)

An applicant institution (normally identified by having a unique DUNS number or NIH Institutional Profile File - IPF) may submit only one application in this topic area. For institutions with two or more NIGMS grants, it is expected that the Program Directors/Principal Investigators will cooperate to develop curricula and/or activities that are broadly applicable to individuals at their institution and that a single supplement request will be submitted through one of the eligible NIGMS awards.

Applicants are strongly encouraged to discuss potential requests with their NIGMS Program Officer before submitting the supplement request.

Application and Submission Information

Applications for this initiative must be submitted using the following funding opportunity announcement or its subsequent reissued equivalent.

• PA-18-591 - Administrative Supplements to Existing NIH Grants and Cooperative Agreements (Parent Admin Supp Clinical Trial Optional)

All instructions in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide and PA-18-591 must be followed, with the following additions:

• Application Due Date(s) April 15, 2020 by 5:00 PM local time of applicant organization.
• For funding consideration, applicants must include the term NOT-GM-20-019 (without quotation marks) in the Agency Routing Identifier field (box 4b) of the SF424 R&R form. Applications without this information in box 4b will not be considered for this initiative.
• NIGMS requires applicants to submit electronically through Grants.gov. The process for Streamlined Submissions using the eRA Commons cannot be used for this initiative.
• Budget

• Application budgets are limited to $80,000 direct costs and must reflect the actual needs of the proposed project.
• Funds from this supplement may be used for salary support of individuals designing, directing, and implementing the proposed training activity. Funds may also be used for administrative staff salaries, consultant costs, equipment, research supplies, faculty/staff travel, and other expenses directly related to the proposed curricular or training activity.
• Funds from this supplement must be expended within 12 months of the supplement award issue date.
• Applicants should note that the funds from this supplement cannot be used to support trainee stipends or tuition (T34) or participant costs (R25).

• Research Training Program Plan (limited to 3 pages). In the Program Plan attachment, include the summary or abstract of the funded parent award(s), and describe the following:

• The need for the proposed curricular or training activities. Describe how the activities will synergize with, but not duplicate, ongoing efforts in this area.
• A description of the curricular or training activities and their potential impact on the biomedical training at the institution.
• How the effectiveness of the curricular or training activities will be assessed.
• If proven to be effective, how the curricular or training activities will be incorporated into the existing biomedical training program(s).
• Plans for disseminating the activities and outcomes.
• Institutional commitment for sustainability of the proposed activities

Application Review Information

NIGMS staff will consider whether the budget is fully justified and will evaluate applications using the following criteria:

• Will the administrative supplement increase or preserve the likelihood for the program to exert a sustained, powerful influence on research training at the institution?
• Is there a clearly identified need for the proposed curricular or training activities?
• Are the plans to assess the outcomes likely to provide evidence of the effectiveness of the training or curricular activity?
• Is there a plan to incorporate the activities into the ongoing conduct of the training programs?
• Are the plans to disseminate the activities and outcomes feasible and likely to reach the intended audience?
• Is there appropriate institutional commitment for sustaining the proposed activities?