News Archives: November, 2021

Robin Boineau, MD, MA, has been selected as the new director of the Office of Clinical and Regulatory Affairs (OCRA) at the NIH National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health.

As director of OCRA, Boineau leads a team that serves as a resource for the planning, implementation, and oversight of clinical research funded by NCCIH. OCRA plays a crucial role in maximizing the success, scientific potential, and impact of NCCIH-supported clinical research and in minimizing the risk to research participants.

Dr. Sethuraman Panchanathan, Director of the NSF, was awarded the NAI Founder’s Award during the National Academy of Inventors 2021 Day 1. Award was presented by Paul Sanberg, President of NAI.

USDA NIFA has announced an investment of over $50 million to 140 organizations and institutions that teach and train beginning farmers and ranchers.

In fiscal year 2020, NIFA awarded $16,783,829 in Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program (BFRDP) grants. In fiscal year 2021, thanks to enhanced funding from the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2021, the total award investment for this program was $50,026,684, which included 85 newly funded grants and 55 continuation projects.

Funded projects from USDA EPSCoR jurisdictions include:

RII Track-2 FEC builds interjurisdictional collaborative teams of EPSCoR investigators in STEM focus areas consistent with NSF priorities. Projects are investigator-driven and must include researchers from at least two EPSCoR eligible jurisdictions with complementary expertise and resources necessary to address challenges, which neither party could address as well or rapidly independently. The STEM research and education activities should seek to broaden participation through the strategic inclusion and integration of diverse individuals, institutions, and sectors throughout the project. Proposals must describe a comprehensive and integrated vision to drive discovery and build sustainable STEM capacity that exemplifies diversity of all types (individual, institutional, geographic, and disciplinary). The development of early-career faculty that are underrepresented in the chosen STEM field and the integration and inclusion of Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) and Primarily Undergraduate Institutions (PUIs) and community colleges is a critical component of this sustainable STEM capacity.

For FY 2022, Track-2 proposals are invited on a single topic: “Advancing research towards industries of tomorrow to ensure economic growth for EPSCoR jurisdictions.”