Deadline: Aug 13, 2024 | Grant: $ 41,000 – 3million | National Needs Graduate and Postgraduate Fellowship Grants Program Funding Opportunity
This grant program supports:
(1) training students for master’s and doctoral degrees in food, agricultural and natural resource sciences; and
(2) Special International Study or Thesis/Dissertation Research Travel Allowances (IRTA) for eligible USDA NNF beneficiaries.
NNF trains students for masters and/or doctoral degrees. It also provides additional post-doctoral training for National Needs Fellows who have completed their doctoral degrees at institutions that have demonstrable teaching and research competencies in the food and agricultural sciences. Fellowships and Special International Study or Thesis/Dissertation Research Travel Allowances (IRTA) are specifically intended to support traineeship programs that encourage outstanding students to pursue and complete their degrees or obtain post-doctoral training in areas where there is an identified national need for the development of scientific and professional personnel. Funds from the fellowships and IRTA awards are invested in graduate training and relevant international experiential learning.
The NNF program provides funding to support graduate training through a student stipend and a cost-of-education allowance to the institution. Fellows matriculating from the NNF program are employed in academia and in USDA agencies such as the Agricultural Research Service, Forest Service, and the Natural Resources Conservation Service. They are also working in private sector entities such as CH2M HILL, ConAgra Foods, FMC FoodTech, Kraft Foods, National Dairy Council, Institute of Food Technologies, M&M Mars, Wal-Mart; and others.
AWARDS
Awards are specifically intended to support traineeship programs that engage outstanding students to pursue and complete their degrees in USDA mission areas. Applicants provide clarity about the philosophy of their graduate training, and relevance to USDA mission sciences, NIFA priorities and national science education policies and statistics.
Applications
Applications are being solicited from institutions that confer a graduate degree in at least one of the following Targeted Expertise Shortage Areas:
1) animal and plant production;
2) forest resources;
3) agricultural educators and communicators;
4) agricultural management and economics;
5) food science and human nutrition;
6) sciences for agricultural biosecurity; and
7) training in integrative biosciences for sustainable food and agricultural systems.
National Needs Graduate and Postgraduate Fellowship Grants Program Funding Opportunity
