A. GENERAL INFORMATION

The Office of Naval Research (ONR) announces a competition for awards under the Science, Engineering and Mathematics Education Program for Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Minority Institutions and Tribal Colleges and Universities (HBCU/MI/TCU).

Under this announcement, each eligible HBCU/MI/TCU may submit one proposal aimed at strengthening its academic programs in science, engineering and/or mathematics fields. Proposal emphasis should be on attracting precollege students, including underrepresented minorities, to science, engineering, and/or mathematics studies (including academic enhancement activities), nurturing and enhancing the educational achievements of participating undergraduate students in a program that provides a firm foundation for possible graduate studies, and encouraging outstanding undergraduates to pursue related graduate degrees. Fields of particular interest are physics, chemistry, mathematics, computer science, oceanography, naval architecture and ocean engineering, aeronautical and astronautical engineering, chemical engineering, electrical engineering, materials science and engineering, manufacturing science and engineering, mechanical engineering, cognitive, neural and behavioral sciences, and biosciences. Pre-med programs are not included in the fields of particular interest.

Proposing HBCU/MI/TCU need not be research institutions. However, they should have science and/or engineering schools or a strong history of graduating students in one or more of the fields of science, engineering, or mathematics identified above. Community or junior colleges responding to this announcement must demonstrate or establish a program in which the graduates from the community/junior college will continue their studies toward a baccalaureate degree. The institution granting the baccalaureate degree need not be an HBCU/MI/TCU but must formally agree to participate and to provide support to the community/junior college graduates as stipulated in the proposal. The proposal must indicate in detail how the institution's academic program in the subject field(s) will be strengthened and the specific steps that will be taken to enhance the number and accomplishments of students in the subject field(s).

By making awards for such education programs to HBCU/MI/TCU, it is expected that the number of underrepresented minorities obtaining undergraduate and graduate degrees in the subject fields will increase. However, the recruitment and selection procedures of proposals accepted for an award must comply with Section 2000d of Title 42, United States Code, which provides:

No person in the United States shall, on the grounds of race, color, or national

origin, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be sub-

jected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.

All awards will be based on merit competition. The proposer should read the entire announcement thoroughly with special attention to instructions for submitting proposals. Failure to follow instructions may result in proposal rejection.

B. ELIGIBILITY

This solicitation is open only to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (defined as institutions determined by the Secretary of Education to meet the requirements of 34 CFR Section 608.2), Minority Institutions (see 10 U.S.C. § 2323(a)(1)(C)), Tribal Colleges and Universities (see section 532 of the Equity in Educational Land-Grant Status Act of 1994 (7 U.S.C. 301 note)), and any other institution that qualifies for funding under the Tribally Controlled Community College Assistance Act of 1978.

The World Wide Web address which provides access to the list of the 1998 United States Department of Education U.S. Accredited Postsecondary Minority Institutions which meet the above criteria for HBCUs, MIs and TCUs is provided in Appendix A. Definitions of HBCUs, MIs, and TCUs are mandated by Congress. The referenced list was compiled by the Office for Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Education, as specified in 20 U.S.C. 1135d-5(3), using enrollment data reported by postsecondary institutions to the National Center for Integrated Statistics and the Office for Civil Rights in the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) Fall Enrollment survey, formerly called the Higher Education General Information Survey (HEGIS).

Questions concerning the HBCU/MI/TCU list must be directed to the IPEDS Inquiry Line

(202- 205-9567) in the Office for Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Education, not to the Department of Defense.

Institutions submitting proposals must have an accredited, degree-granting program in science, engineering, or mathematics. This program is designed to enhance academic capabilities in undergraduate programs.

C. OBJECTIVES

Each institution that submits a proposal should develop a plan tailored to its unique needs and capabilities. The objectives should be:

1. to increase the number of students, including underrepresented minorities, who graduate in the fields of particular interest listed above;

2. to enhance the educational achievements of participating students; and

3. to increase the number of students going on to graduate school in the listed fields of particular interest.

D. APPROACH

Proposals should include special enrichment programs for all participants, particularly in quantitative skills, to improve the likelihood that students will be attracted to and retained in the listed fields of particular interest. Proposals should also include an appropriate mentoring component to enhance retention of students. Mentors should devote substantial time to individualized interactions with each student. The mentoring process should be designed so as to provide: (1) encouragement to the students, to fuel the desire to succeed; (2) guidance to students, to enhance achievement and to assist in making academic and career choices; and (3) assistance in addressing and solving problems, whether academic or personal, that may impede academic progress. An objective should be to encourage students to pursue a Ph.D. degree, by including a strong research component in the proposal. Research activities can be at the home campus, at another institution of higher education, or at a government, nonprofit, or industrial laboratory.

The following are examples of other program components that can also be included in order to achieve program objectives:

1. recruiting promising high school students to pursue a degree in the fields of particular interest;

2. supporting summer activities (A six- to ten-week precollege program focusing, for example, on mathematics and writing skills can help students make the transition to college level studies and orient them to college and its requirements. Research activities are especially appropriate for more senior participants.);

3. financial support for students selected for the program (Financial support is to be limited to U.S. citizens and permanent residents.);

4. support for visiting faculty and guest lecturers;

5. establishment of joint activities with established science, engineering, and/or mathematics programs at other educational institutions;

6. field trips and other interactions with practicing scientists and engineers and with industrial organizations;

7. opportunities to participate in research during the academic year;

8. opportunities to teach; and

9. cooperative technical work/study opportunities with industrial, government, and other nonprofit organizations.

These are suggestions; each HBCU/MI/TCU should design a program tailored to its needs and capabilities. The program plan should address the full four year undergraduate education of participants, beginning with their recruitment to enroll in the subject science, engineering, and/or mathematics fields. Provision of an opportunity to engage in research and/or teaching while an undergraduate can be an effective way to encourage participating students to enroll in a Ph.D. program in order to pursue a career in research or in teaching at an institution of higher education.

Appropriate quantitative measures of success should be explicitly listed and justified in the proposal. Examples of measures of success are scores on standardized tests, the change in the number of students enrolling in and graduating from relevant science, engineering, and/or mathematics programs, and the numbers of graduates pursuing graduate degrees in the fields of interest.

E. DATES

Proposals are due no later than 4:00 p.m. Eastern Standard time on Thursday, October 28, 1998 at the address given below in section H. Eligible institutions having a current education grant awarded by ONR under the October 1993 announcement entitled Science, Engineering and Mathematics Education Program for Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority Institutions may compete for a renewal grant with a start date immediately following the current expiration date. Other proposals seeking new education grants should propose as a start date the beginning of the institution's 1999-2000 academic year (generally during August or September 1999). Program activities within these new grants during the 1999-2000 academic year should focus on program planning, recruitment of students, and any proposed summer precollege program (see F. FUNDING LEVEL). Program end dates should be set to match the academic calendar of the institution. Base grants of about two years, nine months (through the end of the spring 2002 academic semester/term, about May 2002) should be proposed. An option for two additional years of funding should be included.

Decisions are expected to be announced by March 1, 1999 via a letter to the principal investigator with a copy to the institution's business office.

F. FUNDING LEVEL

Each eligible institution can request no more than $600,000 for any twelve month period. For new grants, it is recommended that the first participating students (freshmen for the 2000-2001 academic year) be recruited during the 1999-2000 academic year. These students could then participate in a precollege program in summer 2000, beginning full time college enrollment immediately thereafter. Thus, the budgets for the initial years should be substantially less than $600,000. A new freshman class would be recruited each year which, when added to the continuing students, would lead to an increase in the number of participants and, hence, a proportional increase of the budget towards a steady-state level that is not to exceed $600,000 for twelve months.

G. PROPOSAL CONTENT

Format guidance is provided below within section I. PROPOSAL SUBMISSION.

A strong commitment by the proposing institution to the proposed program is required. The proposal must have the commitment of, and be signed by, the President, Chancellor, or Provost of the institution. Examples of other indicators of commitment are participation and oversight by senior administrator(s) and non-federal cost sharing (e.g., funding for tuition and/or faculty time).

Proposals should include the following:

1. PROPOSAL COVER. Use Appendix C of this announcement.

2. ABSTRACT. Provide an abstract no longer than one page.

3. PROGRAM DESCRIPTION. Each institution must develop a plan tailored to its unique capabilities and needs. This plan should describe quantitatively the institution's goals to increase the number of students, including underrepresented minorities, graduating in science, engineering, and/or mathematics, to enhance the educational achievements of these students, and to increase the number of graduates who pursue a related graduate degree. These goals should be realistic and should be compared, for example, to the number of students recently graduated in each discipline involved in the proposal, the number of these students who have pursued graduate school, and the average GRE scores for these students.

The plan must describe in detail how the institution will attain the objectives of this program and the specific goals set by the institution. This plan must include a detailed explanation of the process and criteria that will be used to recruit and select program participants, to strengthen the institution's academic programs so as to enhance the educational achievements of the participants, and to assess program and participant accomplishments. The plan should describe the criteria that will be used to determine which students qualify, both initially and in their subsequent years, for financial support under this program.

While student-oriented features should make up the core of the proposal and the budget, an infrastructure adequate to support the overall plan is also required. Thus the plan may include support for faculty to develop and run the program, support for curriculum development /improvement, support to attract outstanding scientists and educators for visiting or permanent appointments, and support for instructional equipment.

Cooperative arrangements with other institutions of higher education (not limited to HBCU/MI) and/or industry, non-profit research institutions, and government laboratories are encouraged when they facilitate achieving the goals of this program.

If new faculty are to be hired with support from the proposed grant, the proposal must include a plan indicating how this expense will eventually be assumed by the institution.

4. EVALUATION PLAN. Proposals should describe how the institution will evaluate its program's effectiveness and should include metrics and a time table.

5. BUDGET. The budget should include cost estimates for each of the following elements:

a. salaries and wages

b. employee benefits

c. undergraduate tuition and fees

d. scholarships and prizes

e. permanent equipment (identify equipment and explain basis of cost estimates)

f. expendable supplies

g. travel (list purpose and destinations of travel and basis of cost estimates)

h. publications and reports

i. other direct costs

j. indirect costs

The budget should be broken down into the anticipated funding periods given below. The amount proposed for each budget period should be the amount projected to be expended by the HBCU/MI/TCU during that period.

For the base award of somewhat less than three years, four funding periods are anticipated. Budgets must be submitted according to the funding periods below:

- start date to September 30, 1999;

- October 1, 1999 to September 30, 2000;

- October 1, 2000 to September 30, 2001; and

- October 1, 2001 to end of spring semester/term 2002.

For the two year option, three funding periods are anticipated:

- from end of base award to September 30, 2002;

- from October 1, 2002 to September 30, 2003; and

- from October 1, 2003 to end of spring semester/term 2004.

6. OTHER EFFORTS. Provide a listing and description (including level and source of funding) of all other similar efforts to enhance education in science, engineering, and/or mathematics which are currently ongoing or anticipated at the proposing institution. Describe how the proposed effort would be coordinated or integrated with these other efforts. Provide examples that demonstrate the institution's ability to manage programs of similar nature, size and complexity.

7. CURRICULUM VITAE of the principal investigator and other primary participants.

H. PROPOSAL EVALUATION

The primary evaluation criterion is:

1. The potential of the proposed plan to achieve the program objectives, which are:

a) to increase the number of graduates, including underrepresented minorities, in listed fields of particular interest;

(b) to enhance these students' educational achievements, e.g., by academic enhancement programs and mentoring; and

(c) to increase the number of these students who attend graduate school and pursue careers in these fields, e.g., by involving students in research.

Other evaluation criteria, which are of lesser importance than the primary criterion, but of equal importance to each other, are:

2. The degree of commitment by the institution to the plan. This factor includes proposed plans to permanently expand the institution's ability to educate and graduate students in one or more listed fields of science, engineering, and/or mathematics. This factor also includes the degree of commitment of senior administrators, as well as the commitment of specific resources such as cost sharing.

3. The qualifications and likely impact of the faculty assigned to the program, including specifically the qualifications and time commitment of the principal investigator and mentors.

4. The institution's ability to manage the proposed program as demonstrated, for example, by the management of programs of similar nature, size, and complexity.

5. The realism and reasonableness of the proposed budget (i.e., the relationship between the budget and the scope and likely impact of the proposed program), and the degree to which the budget is student oriented (i.e., the percentage of the total budget devoted to budget items c and d under G.5. above).

6. A clear indication of the quantitative measures by which the proposed program's success will be judged, such as the percentage increase in GRE scores and the change in numbers of students enrolled and graduating.

I. PROPOSAL SUBMISSION

To be eligible for consideration, proposals must bear the appropriate Proposal Cover (Appendix C). Proposals submitted in whole or in part by electronic media (e.g., computer disk, facsimile, electronic mail) will not be accepted. An institution may submit only one proposal.

Please note that proposals delivered by commercial carriers are considered "hand carried" and that no exceptions can be made to allow such proposals to be considered if, for any reason, they are received after the deadline. Offerors are advised that some proposals responding to past announcements that were sent via commercial carriers were delayed during shipment and arrived after the deadlines, typically by one or two days. To decrease the probability that proposals delivered by commercial carriers will arrive after the deadline and thus be ineligible to compete, offerors are encouraged to schedule delivery to occur before the deadline date.

Proposals must be typed and should not exceed 30 pages, all inclusive (i.e., including vitae and budget). The requisite Proposal Cover (Appendix C) and Acknowledgment Receipt (Appendix D) are excluded from the page count. The proposal and each copy should be fastened securely (e.g., stapled) in the left margin or upper left corner. Plastic covers or binders should not be used. The following guidance applies to all proposals under this solicitation:

1. A page is defined as 8 1/2 x 11-inch paper, single-sided, not to exceed 66 lines of text, with one-inch margins, and a typeface of 10- or 12-pitch.

2. The abstract and pages with graphs and charts shall be included in the page count. All pages should be numbered consecutively, beginning with the first page after the Proposal Cover.

3. If proposals are received which exceed the allowable number of pages, only those pages up to the prescribed number (30) will be evaluated. Separate attachments such as institutional brochures, reprints, disks, or videotapes should not be submitted.

Institutionally approved, signed, complete proposals must be received by 4:00 p.m. Eastern Standard time, Thursday, October 28, 1998. Proposals received after the deadline will be handled in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation 52.215-1(c)(3) (see Appendix B).

A proposal signed by appropriate university officials and marked "Original," along with eight (8) copies of the original, should be submitted to the address below:

Office of Naval Research

HBCU/MI/TCU Science, Engineering and Education Program

ONR 353, Room 804

800 N. Quincy Street

Arlington, VA 22217-5660

Attn.: Donna Rice (703) 696-4111

J. NOTIFICATIONS

Acknowledgment of receipt of a proposal responding to this solicitation will be accomplished via the tear-out receipt, Appendix D or a photocopy thereof. Self-address the form and affix proper postage. Clip the form to the original proposal (do not staple or tape).

Decisions are expected to be announced by March 1, 1999 via a letter to the principal investigator with a copy to the institution's business office.

K. CONTACT FOR ONR SCIENCE, ENGINEERING AND MATHEMATICS EDUCATION PROGRAM

Inquiries about this announcement may be directed to:
Dr. Katie Blanding
703-696-4224
Fax: 703-588-1013
blandik@onr.navy.mil

APPENDIX A: 1998 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION U.S. ACCREDITED POSTSECONDARY MINORITY INSTITUTIONS (HBCUs, MIs, and TCUs) is available at http://web.fie.com/web/mol/text/minlist1998.htm

APPENDIX B: LATE SUBMISSIONS

APPENDIX C: PROPOSAL COVER

APPENDIX D: ACKNOWLEDGMENT RECEIPT(PDF Format - Requires Adobe Acrobat)

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	author:	Barbara Thurman
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	last modified:	20 Jul 1998