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General Provisions - Student Support

  1. Funding proposals will be accepted from principal investigators or co investigators who are employed at U.S. institutions.  Investigators employed by NRAO are ineligible to receive funding; their participation in an observing program does not affect the eligibility of other investigators in that program. The program is intended to assist students who are enrolled at U.S. institutions; the status as a student of an intended recipient will be confirmed by the investigator(s).
  2. Preliminary Funding Proposals must accompany Observing Proposals. An Observing Proposal is a proposal to use the Green Bank Telescope (GBT) for some scientific investigation. Each Observing Proposal is limited to one Preliminary Funding Proposal, from the investigator designated by the observing team. The deadlines for submitting a GBT proposal are February 1, June 1, and October 1 each year.
  3. Funding will be awarded by the GBT Student Support Committee, based on rankings from the referees, comments from the telescope allocation committee, and information about other awards to the investigator that are related to the Observing Proposal.  The referees are predominantly external scientists who evaluate the scientific merit of the Observing Proposals. Awards will be subject to the availability of funds from the NSF.  A funding cap of $45,000 in active GBT awards will be imposed per investigator.
  4. Investigators who have requested funding will receive notification from the GBT Student Support Administrator concerning the status of their funding requests.  Notifications regarding funding requests will be issued the week following notifications regarding time requests.
  5. If funding is awarded, a Final Funding Proposal, with a detailed budget and budget narrative, must be received by the GBT Student Support Administrator within 30 days of when the allocated observations begin.  The detailed budget should be an elaboration of the Preliminary Funding Proposal.  The data archived during observations are subject to the standard NRAO proprietary policy, namely: data are reserved for the exclusive use of the observing team for a period of 18 months, after which the data are available to any astronomer.
  6. Funding will normally be awarded for a period of one year.  The GBT Student Support Administrator will coordinate award activation, disbursement, and deactivation with the awardee institution.  An award may be activated any time after the observations have been scheduled, provided a Final Funding Proposal has been received.  One request for an advance of a portion of the funding may be made to assist with the  preparation of the observations in the period between award notification  and observation start.  One request for a six month, no cost extension  may also be made.  Although this initial program is oriented toward a  one year program, a request for support of a two year program of  observations for a dissertation may be considered.  Such a request should  be accompanied by a more detailed description of the observing program,  and should include the dissertation plan. A report summarizing the  progress achieved during the first year must be submitted for evaluation  by the GBT Student Support Administrator before the funding for the  second year will be released.
  7. The funding cap for student stipends (undergraduate and/or graduate) is $32,000 with an additional amount of up to $3,000 for miscellaneous expenses (computer hardware and/or student travel to domestic meetings to present acquired data).  Up to $3,000 of the award may be used to offset the costs of administering the award by the investigator's institution.  Tuition costs are not allowed.  Fringe benefits are allowed. Domestic meeting locations include those within the U.S. and its territories, within Canada, or within Mexico.  Tickets for air travel must be purchased from U.S. flag carriers, defined as those holding certificates under section 401 of the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 (49 U.S.C. 1371).
  8. Those receiving funding through the GBT Student Support Program remain eligible for the standard NRAO user support programs, including travel to the NRAO for observing and data reduction, and page charges. The standard publication acknowledgment must be augmented by the sentence "Support for this work was provided by the NSF through award GSSP id from the NRAO."  The GBT Student Support Administrator will assign an identification code to replace "id."
  9. Close Out Reports to the GBT Student Support Administrator must be submitted within six months of expiration of the award. The investigator will provide a letter of appointment for the student(s) supported  by the award, a statement of expenditure of time by the student(s), and documentation of all expenditures for travel and equipment, including original receipts. The GBT Student Support Administrator, normally a scientist on the NRAO staff, will be given assistance by the NRAO Administration Division on business issues. A refund check for any balance of advanced unexpended funds must accompany the close out report.
  10. The director of the NRAO, the director of the NSF, and the Comptroller General of the U.S. (or any of their duly authorized representatives) shall have access to any books, documents, papers, and records pertinent to the award to make audits, examinations, excerpts, and transcripts.  Financial records pertinent to the award must be retained by the awardee institution for a period of three years after deactivation of the award.
  11. By accepting an award, the awardee institution certifies that it is in compliance with and will continue to act in accordance with the national policies against discrimination:
    • on the basis of race, color, or national origin, as set forth in Title VI of the  Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Public Law 88 352; 42 U.S.C. 2000 d) and the regulations issued pursuant thereto by the NSF; and
    • on the basis of sex, as set forth in Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972 as amended (Public Law 318; 20 U.S.C. 1680 1681) and the regulations issued pursuant thereto by the NSF; and
    • on the basis of handicap, as set forth in Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended (29 U.S.C. 794) and the regulations issued pursuant thereto by the NSF; and
    • on the basis of age, as set forth in the Age Discrimination Act of 1975 as amended at 45 CFR 90 and the regulations issued pursuant thereto by the NSF.
  12. By accepting an award, the awardee institution certifies that it will comply with all applicable standards and requirements as set forth in the OMB Circulars and the Federal Acquisition Regulation:
    • OMB Circular A 21, Cost Principles for Educational Institutions
    • OMB Circular A 122, Cost Principles for Non Profit Organizations
    • FAR Subpart 31.2 (48 CFR 31.2), Awards with Commercial Organizations and those Non Profit Organizations specifically exempted in OMB Circular A 122, Attachment C;
    • MB Circular A 110, Uniform Administrative Requirements for Grants and Agreements with Institutions of Higher Education, Hospitals, and other Non Profit Organizations; and
    • OMB Circular A 133, Audits of States, Local Governments and Non Profit Organizations.
  13. The determination of the rights of ownership and disposition of inventions resulting from the work funded under an award shall be in accordance with 37 CFR part 401 and the regulations issued pursuant thereto by the NSF.
  14. he investigator, author, or awardee institution may copyright any book, publication, or other copyrightable material developed as a result of the work funded under an award, although the NRAO and the NSF reserve a royalty free, nonexclusive, and irrevocable right to reproduce, publish, prepare derivative works, or otherwise use and authorize others to use the work for their purposes.
Version 2002 May 16

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