To:  Subscribers to Research Administrators ListServ

Thanks to Judy Fredenberg of the University of Montana, I'm a brand-new
subscriber to this listserv.

I would like to take advantage of the listserv's existence by broadcasting
that the Program Guidelines and receipt dates for NIH's Academic Research
Enhancement Award (AREA) Program (R15 grants) (of which I am the NIH
Coordinator) have not yet been issued, as I have been receiving many
queries about this matter.

The guidelines and receipt dates have not been issued yet because some
changes have been proposed, and we are awaiting an official
decision/acceptance of the recommended changes the first week in April.

The major proposed changes are that:

there would be three receipt dates a year:  January 25, May 25, and
September 25;  (though it remains unclear at this point whether there would
even be a May/June 1997 receipt date at all, given the short time frame);

Type 2 applications to renew or continue a project would be accepted; and

certain additional information about the applicant institution and its
students and about the experience of the PI in supervising students in
research would be required in the application.

There have been no changes to the purpose of the program, the eligibility
requirements, or to the general application procedures, so the guidelines
and instructions for last year that appear on the NIH homepage
(http://www.nih.gov) can still be consulted.

The official guidelines and receipt dates (whatever is decided) will be
published in the NIH Guide to Grants and Contracts (which is on the Grants
and Contracts submenu of our Home Page), and that should be in early
April.

 So, keep checking the Guide, if you don't have an electronic subscription
to it (and check the Home Page for how to subscribe).

Hope this is helpful.

Sincerely,
Janet M Cuca, PhD
NIH AREA Coordinator
xxxxxx@nih.gov