AAES > Research Links > Multistate FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions Concerning Multistate Projects

  1. How can I become an official participant of a Multistate Project?

    2. File Appendix E and obtain approval from the AAES Director.

  2. What is a Multistate Project?

    3. A Multistate Project (also called a Regional Project) involves cooperative, jointly planned research employing multidisciplinary approaches to solve problems of concern to multiple states or across a region. Multistate Projects are officially approved by a regional association of agricultural experiment station directors and by USDA. Multistate Projects also include National Projects involving multiple regions such as NRSP-1, NRSP-8, etc.

    A Multistate Project provides a “plan of research” for five (5) years, and can serve as an Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station (AAES) project in place of a Hatch Project for research appointments in the AAES. Faculty are required to have AAES appointment in order to access experiment station resources such as Hatch/Multistate funding programs, outlying units, Agricultural Land and Resource Management assistance, etc.

  3. What is the process to establish a Multistate Project?

    4. In most cases, a group of principal investigators representing multiple states identifies a research area that requires collaboration among many researchers across state lines. These researchers then initiate the process of establishing a Multistate Project by working with their respective experiment station directors.

    The project proposal is prepared in a fashion similar to a Hatch Project, but the project is presented by an experiment station director from one of the collaborating institutions to the regional experiment station directors for discussion and approval. Once approved by the regional experiment station directors association, the project is filed with USDA for approval. During this process, individual scientists are invited to participate in the project by the Executive Director of the regional experiment station directors.

    When new Multistate Projects are being established, or terminating projects are being revised, faculty will be invited to join. E-mails will be sent to faculty informing them of new projects or revisions of projects. These e-mail notices include links to more information on particular projects.

    1. Information on Multistate Projects is available on the National Information Management and Support System (NIMSS) Web site: http://nimss.umd.edu.
    2. AAES faculty who are interested in participating in a Multistate Project must complete an Appendix E form and submit the completed form to AAES. Involvement in any Multistate Projects must be approved by the Director of AAES.
    3. Upon the director’s approval of faculty involvement in a Multistate Project, faculty must complete the AD-416, AD-417, and CSREES-2008 forms for that project. Forms can be completed at http://cwf.uvm.edu/cris/.

    For more information on initiating a Multistate Project, contact the AAES Assistant Director, Auburn University at liuzha@auburn.edu, or Eric Young, Executive Director of the Southern Association of Agricultural Experiment Station Directors, North Carolina State University, at eric_young@ncsu.edu.

  4. I have a project collaborating with researchers of Florida and Wisconsin. Do I qualify for Multistate funding?

    5. Not necessarily. It depends on whether your project is an official Multistate Project (See "What is a Multistate Project?" for details). If your project is not an official Multistate Project, collaborating with researchers from multiple states does not qualify you for Multistate Project funding.