BACKGROUND

A report, titled "Changing America: The New Face of Science and Engineering" issued by the President's Task Force on Women, Minorities, and the Handicapped in Science and Technology, December 1989, has documented a very low participation rate for Americans with disabilities in the science and engineering workforce. To address this problem for the biomedical and behavioral research workforce, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and its awarding components have developed an initiative that is designed to extend opportunities to individuals with qualifying disabilities who are capable of entering or resuming research careers. Under this initiative, individuals with disabilities are encouraged to pursue biomedical research careers in areas within the missions of all the awarding components of the NIH through supplemental awards to certain ongoing research grants. It is hoped that the plan to provide funding at several different stages in a research career will substantially increase the number of individuals with disabilities in biomedical research. The NIH hereby notifies Principal Investigators holding certain NIH research grants of the availability of funds for administrative supplements to existing grants for the support and recruitment of scientists and students with disabilities.

For additional information, please visit their web site at: http://grants1.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-99-105.html.