CRDF Announces Cooperative Grants Program

On November 6, 1995, the U.S. Civilian Research and Development Foundation (CRDF) announced a call for proposals for its new Cooperative Grants Program. This program will allow teams of former Soviet and U.S. scientists and engineers to apply jointly for support of cooperative projects in any area of civilian research and development. Teams may apply for $10,000 to $80,000 of funds for a two-year period.

The CRDF intends to allocate over $6 million for Collaborative Grants Program awards. Proposals must be submitted to the CRDF's office in Arlington, Virginia by March 1, 1996. Based on the results of a competitive peer review process, the CRDF Board of Directors will announce the first awards and award levels by July 1, 1996, and will announce all awards by September 1, 1996.

The CRDF is a private, non-profit foundation created in August 1995 as an American response to the ongoing crisis facing science and engineering in the former Soviet Union. The mission of the CRDF is to encourage productive civilian employment alternatives for former FSU defense scientists while providing opportunities for FSU and U.S. scientists to pursue mutually beneficial entrepreneurial R&D activities expected to strengthen market economies and stable democratic regimes in the region.

The creation of the CRDF was originally authorized in 1992 Congressional legislation sponsored by Congressman George Brown of California, then-Senator Al Gore of Tennessee, and Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut. Its imminent creation was announced by President Clinton at the May 1995 Summit Meeting in Moscow.

The CRDF's initial funding derives from a $5 million allocation from the Department of Defense's "Nunn-Lugar" program to promote demilitarization in the FSU and from a matching $5 million gift to the National Science Foundation (NSF) by philanthropist George Soros. The NSF, as directed by the 1992 legislation, used these combined funds to establish the CRDF, and also appointed its Board of Directors.

For more information on the CRDF Cooperative Grants Program, please contact the U.S. Civilian Research and Development Foundation, 1800 North Kent Street, Suite 1106, Arlington, Virginia, 22209; Phone: (703) 526-9720; Fax: (703) 526-9721; email: information@crdf.org; WWW: http://www.internext.com/crdf.