The Director shall carry out a pilot program to award 1-year grants to individuals to assist them in improving research proposals that were previously submitted to the Foundation but not selected for funding.

To be eligible to receive a grant under this section, an individual—

(1) may not have previously received funding as the principal investigator of a research grant from the Foundation; and

(2) shall have submitted a proposal to the Foundation, which may include a proposal submitted to the Research in Undergraduate Institutions program, that was rated excellent under the Foundation’s competitive merit review process.

The Director shall make awards under this section based on the advice of the program officers of the Foundation.

Grants awarded under this section shall be used to enable an individual to resubmit an updated research proposal for review by the Foundation through the agency’s competitive merit review process. Uses of funds made available under this section may include the generation of new data and the performance of additional analysis.

The Director shall carry out this section through the Small Grants for Exploratory Research program.

The Board shall conduct a review and assessment of the pilot program under this section, including the number of new investigators funded, the distribution of awards by type of institution of higher education, and the success rate upon resubmittal of proposals by new investigators funded through such pilot program. Not later than 3 years after August 9, 2007, the Board shall summarize its findings and any recommendations regarding changes to, the termination of, or the continuation of the pilot program in a report to the Committee on Science and Technology of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate.

(Pub. L. 110–69, title VII, § 7021, Aug. 9, 2007, 121 Stat. 685.)