Commonly-Used Acronyms
Federal Agency Terms |
|
| AFOSR | Air Force Office of Scientific Research (a branch of the U.S. Department of Defense) |
| AFRI | Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (competivite grants program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture) |
| ARO | Army Research Office (a branch of the U.S. Department of Defense) |
| ARS | Agricultural Research Service (the principal in-house research agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture) |
| BAA | Broad Agency Announcement (broad overview of research projects sought by an agency; used by Department of Defense) |
| DHS | U.S. Department of Homeland Security |
| DHHS | U.S. Department of Health and Human Services |
| DOC | U.S. Department of Commerce |
| DOD | U.S. Department of Defense |
| DOE | U.S. Department of Energy |
| DoED | U.S. Department of Education |
| DOI | U.S. Department of Interior |
| DOJ | U.S. Department of Justice |
| DOL | U.S. Department of Labor |
| DOT | U.S. Department of Transportation |
| EPA | Environmental Protection Agency |
| NASA | National Aeronautics and Space Administration |
| NIFA | National Institute of Food and Agriculture (formerly Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service [CSREES] of the U.S. Department of Agriculture) |
| NIH | National Institutes of Health (composed of approximately 27 individual health-related institutes and centers, each with a specific research agenda, often focusing on particular diseases or body systems) |
| NSF | National Science Foundation |
| ONR | Office of Naval Research (a branch of the U.S. Department of Defense) |
| USDA | U.S. Department of Agriculture |
| USGS | U.S. Geological Survey (a branch of the U.S. Department of Interior) |
Other Grant-Related Terms |
|
| AHA | American Heart Association |
| ERA | Electronic research administration (online grant and proposal management) |
| F&A | Facilities and administrative costs (same as “overhead” or “indirect costs” in a grant budget) |
| GCA | NDSU Grant and Contract Accounting Office (handles post award grant accounting) |
| IDC | Indirect costs (same as F&A costs—see above) |
| PA | Program Announcement (grant announcement or solicitation; used by NIH) |
| PI | Principal Investigator (generic term for the lead person on a grant project) |
| PTF | Proposal Transmittal Form (used for NDSU internal review and approval of grant proposals) |
| RFA | Request for Applications (similar to RFP; used by NIH) |
| RFP | Request for Proposals (grant announcement or solicitation) |
| SPA | NDSU Sponsored Programs Administration Office (sometimes generically referenced by grant agencies as SPO—Sponsored Programs Office) |
