Naval Research Laboratory, Attn: Code 3230, 4555 Overlook Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20375-5326

A -- UNIVERSITY RESEARCH INITIATIVE PROGRAM FOR COMPUTATIONAL NEUROSCIENCE SOL ONR BAA 99-019 DUE 060899 POC Vera Duberry, Contract Negotiator, ONR Code 253, (703)696-2610, Technical POC Dr. Thomas McKenna, ONR Code 342, (703)696-4503 E-MAIL: click here, duberrv@onr.navy.mil. The Office of Naval Research (ONR), serving as executive agent for the Department of Defense (DoD), is seeking proposals to accelerate, within the university community, certain research activities related to computational neuroscience. As part of DoD's University Research Initiative (URI) program, proposals are sought from qualified U.S. institutions of higher education (IHEs) with strong research capabilities related to the use of multidisciplinary computational neuroscience (1) to understand the impact of emotions on human information processing, and (2) to explore biomimetic machine vision. Relevant scientific issues of particular interest include (1) the mechanisms by which neural circuits involved in emotion affect learning, memory and cognitive skills, including computational analysis of the impact of emotional neural circuits on cortical information processing, and (2) biomimetic vision approaches to challenging machine vision problems related to human and vehicle recognition and tracking in complex scenes, human activity recognition, and autonomous vehicle navigation. It is anticipated that a single grant award or cooperative agreement, not to exceed $1,921,000.00 in total federal funding for a performance period not to exceed three years and addressing both research areas listed above, will result from this announcement. A proposed start date of 15 July 1999 is recommended. Proposals must offer at a minimum non-federal matching funds at a one-to-two ratio (i.e., at least one dollar from state, institutional, and/or private sector sources to match each two dollars of federal support being provided). Matching funds may support salaries, indirect costs, operating expenses, or new equipment. Qualified IHEs may contact the ONR Technical POC to discuss related DoD research interests. Proposals submitted in response to this announcement must be sent to the Office of Naval Research, ONR 353, Room 804, Attention: Computational Neuroscience BAA, 800 North Quincy Street, Arlington, VA 22217-5660 and must bereceived at the agency no later than 4:00 p.m. local time on 8 June 1999. Offerors must state in their proposal that it is submitted in response to this specific BAA. All proposals should be accompanied by a completed certification package which can be accessed through the ONR Home Page (http://www.ONR.NAVY.MIL) at "How To Submit a Proposal." For grant or cooperative agreement proposals the certification package is entitled "Certification Document." The selection decision will be based on scientific review utilizing the following criteria: (1) overall scientific and technical merit of the proposed research, (2) potential DoD relevance and contribution to DoD missions, (3) offeror's demonstrated capabilities, related experience, and facilities which relate to the identified research area of interest, (4) qualifications, capabilities, and experience of the proposed key personnel and team leader, and (5) realism of the proposed costs. Posted 05/07/99 (W-SN329029). (0127)

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