(a) General. Unless otherwise specified in the RFA or this subpart, eligible applicants for the grant program implemented under this subpart include:

(1) State agricultural experiment stations;

(2) Colleges and universities (including junior colleges offering an associate's degree);

(3) University research foundations;

(4) Other research institutions and organizations;

(5) Federal agencies;

(6) National laboratories;

(7) Private organizations or corporations;

(8) Individuals; and

(9) Any group consisting of 2 or more entities identified in paragraphs (a)(1) through (8) of this section.

(b) Integrated projects. Eligible entities for the integrated component under this subpart include:

(1) Colleges and universities;

(2) 1994 Institutions; and

(3) Hispanic-serving agricultural colleges and universities (as defined in section 1404 of the National Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy Act of 1977 (7 U.S.C. 3103).

(c) FASE Grants—(1) New investigator awards. To be eligible to apply, a new investigator must be in the beginning of his/her career, without an extensive publication record, and must have less than 5 years of postgraduate, career-track experience. To be eligible to receive a grant, the new investigator may not have received competitively awarded Federal funds, with the exception of pre- or postdoctoral awards or NRI/AFRI Seed Grants. The AFRI RFA will contain specific instructions for New Investigator Grant eligibility, restrictions, and application preparation.

(2) Pre- and postdoctoral fellowships. The following eligibility requirements apply to applicants for pre- and postdoctoral fellowships.

(i) The doctoral degree of the applicant must be received not earlier than January 1 of the calendar year three years prior to the submission of the proposal and not later than nine months after the proposal due date; and

(ii) For pre-doctoral applications, the applicant must have advanced to candidacy by the application deadline.

(3) Strengthening grants. Eligibility for all strengthening categories includes:

(i) Small and mid-sized academic institutions that have had limited institutional success;

(ii) Degree-granting institutions and State agricultural experiment stations (SAES) in USDA Experimental Program for Stimulating Competitive Research (EPSCoR) states; and

(iii) Minority-serving institutions with limited institutional success.