National Research Initiative Competitive Grants Program, Cooperative State Research, Education,
and Extension Service, United States Department of Agriculture, Room 323 Aerospace Center,
AG Box 2241, Washington, D.C. 20250-2241, (202) 401-5022, nricgp@reeusda.gov
The National Research Initiative Competitive Grants Program (NRICGP) is the office in the
Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES) of the USDA charged
with funding research on key problems of national and regional importance in biological,
environmental, physical, and social sciences relevant to agriculture, food, and the environment on a
peer-reviewed, competitive basis. The NRICGP supports a spectrum of research ranging from
basic, fundamental questions relevant to agriculture in the broad sense to research that bridges the
basic and applied sciences and results in pratical outcomes. Competition is open to scientists at all
academic institutions, Federal research agencies, private and industrial organizations, and those
individuals qualified but not affiliated with one of the aforementioned organizations.
In Fiscal Year 1995, the NRICGP recieved 3,214 proposals requesting funds totaling over $672
million. Funding was available to support 783 grants totaling $93,796,282. The success rate was
22 percent (not including conferences or previously obligated funds), and the average grant award
for regular research programs was $127,773 with an average duration of 2.1 years.
Included in NRICGP award funding is over $17 million in Agricultural Research Enhancement
Awards (AREA) in FY95. These included Individual Postdoctoral Fellowships, New Investigator
Awards, Standard Strengthening Awards (made through the individual research programs) and
Strengthening Awards (made through the Stregnthening Program and composed of Research
Career Enhancement Awards, Equipment Grants, and Seed Grants).
The NRICGP also is an ongoing cosponsor of the DOE/NSF/USDA Joint Program on
Collaborative Research in Plant Biology, the NSF/DOE/NASA/USDA Joint Program on
Terrestrial Ecology and Global Change, and the Arabidopsis thaliana Genome Sequencing
Project - NSF/DOE/USDA Joint Program.