sone461 Posted December 19, 2013 Posted December 19, 2013 Senate has passed the budget and sent it along to Obama. It will presumably be finalized before year's end. EPA folks have indicated that we should have information 'shortly' after they have a budget in hand, so hopefully we can expect to hear in the New Year.
withoutwords Posted January 3, 2014 Posted January 3, 2014 (edited) So do we switch to the 2014 forum Edited January 3, 2014 by withoutwords Wander 1
CCA-B2 Posted January 7, 2014 Posted January 7, 2014 The 2014 forum has not advanced since they found out that an announcement is not being issued for year. Has anyone hear anything from EPA yet?
sone461 Posted January 15, 2014 Posted January 15, 2014 Spending bill is now pending approval (by Saturday). I think this contains the answer to our question...I just have NO idea how to interpret the legal/bureaucrat-ese. EPA funding info starts on page 775. If anyone can interpret, please let us know!! http://docs.house.gov/billsthisweek/20140113/CPRT-113-HPRT-RU00-h3547-hamdt2samdt_xml.pdf
guscrea Posted January 15, 2014 Posted January 15, 2014 (edited) Hi all, I've been lurking this thread for months now; it's time to chime in with what I hope is good news. The relevant part of the bill (H.R. 3547) linked to by sone461 (thanks!) is on page 755, and states: For science and technology, including research and development activities... $759,156,000, to remain available until September 30, 2015: Provided, That of the funds included under this heading, $4,234,000 shall be for Research: National Priorities as specified in the explanatory statement accompanying this Act. It took some digging, but I eventually found the appropriate "explanatory statement," which is itself almost 300 pages long. Read it here: http://docs.house.gov/billsthisweek/20140113/113-HR3547-JSOM-G-I.pdf The information we're all looking for can be found in the top two lines of page 30: Research: Sustainable and Healthy Communities.- The bill provides $154,978,000. Funding is included for the Agency's STAR and the Greater Research Opportunities fellowship programs consistent with fiscal year 2013 levels. It might be worth taking a look at page 81 of the PDF, too, where the specific allocations are listed relative to the FY2014 requests. On page 82 of the PDF, the Research: Sustainable and Healthy Communities FY2014 request is listed as 147,372 (in thousands). The amount allocated is 154,978--7.6 million more than was requested! So, while the EPA as a whole is taking a hit, it looks like the budget line we're all worried about actually increased! Crossing fingers! Edited January 15, 2014 by guscrea VBD 1
CCA-B2 Posted January 17, 2014 Posted January 17, 2014 Thanks for the updates! All of this looks very promising. Now, only if we knew whether everyone that's left are those that are guaranteed an award. I believe that this may be so… Or, it may just me by wishful thinking. Good Luck to All!
withoutwords Posted January 17, 2014 Posted January 17, 2014 Yeah I have been thinking about the same thing, but how EPA has always awarded it before is that they have a certain fraction pass the external review which I think is all of us left, and then depending on how much money they have they award as many as they can. I would think they'd still have at least a few extra people they do not plan to give the award to as alternates in case someone they do offer the award to is unable to accept it. I get the sense though that there are still a lot of us left, like more than 80, but maybe that is just being pessimistic.
Cassowary Posted January 18, 2014 Posted January 18, 2014 By the time (and if) they award the 2013 applicants, I wonder how many of us will still be in a graduate program? Thanks all for continuing this thread - Has anyone contacted Brandon recently?
CCA-B2 Posted January 18, 2014 Posted January 18, 2014 I doubt that there's more than 80, we haven't had 80 ppl comment on here. And, I don't know of anyone that hasn't heard back from EPA already from my school. If there are about 80 ppl left then everyone should get an award, because in 2012 they had 87 awardees. Lets think positively. Cassowary, I'll still be in my graduate program.
Solanox Posted January 18, 2014 Posted January 18, 2014 I've been stalking this forum for a while but it's my first time commenting, so I'm sure the number is higher than the amount of people who comment on this forum regularly. But I do hope that we all get it. I'll still be in my program (PhD) Anyway, that's excellent news -- thanks for digging through all of information!
dbg6ydr Posted January 20, 2014 Posted January 20, 2014 Hi All, I wrote Bronda last week to ask about timelines. Here was the relevant portion of her response: "We have no new news at this time. That should change once we have a real budget, hopefully in the next week." Hopefully, that means we will be hearing something soon!
Cassowary Posted January 21, 2014 Posted January 21, 2014 Similarly, I just heard back from Brandon Jones: "There still has been no award decision for the 2013 announcement. However, since Congress has agreed on a budget and that budget guidance is forthcoming, we should know something in the upcoming weeks." So we may have a few weeks yet before we get another update.
withoutwords Posted January 28, 2014 Posted January 28, 2014 I got this from Bronda: "things are working their way through the system. Let's give it another week."
StanfordMonkey Posted January 29, 2014 Posted January 29, 2014 I just wanted to shout out to my fellow 2013 STAR Fellow Orphans (2014 SFOs) -- thank you for staying on top of things while I forgot about the award. I could really use some more bananas.
WaitNSee Posted January 30, 2014 Posted January 30, 2014 I also want to say thanks to everyone for posting updates. Let's see how long this "week" is!
marshymarsh Posted February 6, 2014 Posted February 6, 2014 Is this 'week' going to be like how we applied in September and were told we would hear about who won 'in June'... And then we heard nothing for 17 months ;-) I think the odds are good that I'll have graduated before we know anything, and I haven't yet started my third chapter. But in all seriousness, thank you to those who have been following up and keeping us posted. It's much appreciated :-)
StanfordMonkey Posted February 10, 2014 Posted February 10, 2014 The latest from Bronda. I guess she is no longer a contact: "The latest is that the wheels are turning far more slowly than I think anyone expected. With me not actually being a part of the process and you checking the Grad Café, you'll probably know before I know."
Blue Gopher Posted February 10, 2014 Posted February 10, 2014 OK, THIS is the week. I can feel it in my bones... or... maybe not. Have a good week all.
bsgerig Posted February 11, 2014 Posted February 11, 2014 Anybody know what the hangup is now? Potentially related to the pending debt limit increase vote?
bsgerig Posted February 12, 2014 Posted February 12, 2014 From Brandon Jones: No award decisions have been made, however, now that Congress has passed a budget, we are waiting on those operational funds to reach the programs. Once that happens, we will be able to pass along more definitive information regarding the award status from the 2013 STAR competition.
Heat_her_bee Posted February 12, 2014 Posted February 12, 2014 This is all starting to seem like a joke to me. StanfordMonkey 1
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