(a) Director means the Director of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) and any other officer or employee of the Department of Agriculture to whom the authority involved may be delegated.

(b) Department means the Department of Agriculture.

(c) Principal investigator means a single individual designated by the grantee in the grant application and approved by the Director who is responsible for the scientific and technical direction of the project.

(d) Grantee means the entity designated in the grant award document as the responsible legal entity to whom a grant is awarded under this part.

(e) Research project grant means the award by the Director of funds to a grantee to assist in meeting the costs of conducting, for the benefit of the public, an identified project which is intended and designed to establish, discover, elucidate, or confirm information or the underlying mechanisms relating to a research program area identified in the annual solicitation of applications.

(f) Project means the particular activity within the scope of one or more of the research program areas identified in the annual solicitation of applications, which is supported by a grant award under this part.

(g) Project period means the total length of time that is approved by the Director for conducting the research project as outlined in an approved grant application.

(h) Budget period means the interval of time (usually 12 months) into which the project period is divided for budgetary and reporting purposes.

(i) Awarding official means the Director and any other officer or employee of the Department to whom the authority to issue or modify research project grant instruments has been delegated.

(j) Peer review group means an assembled group of experts or consultants qualified by training and experience in particular scientific or technical fields to give expert advice, in accordance with the provisions of this part, on the scientific and technical merit of grant applications in those fields.

(k) Ad hoc reviewers means experts or consultants qualified by training and experience in particular scientific or technical fields to render special expert advice, whose written evaluations of grant applications are designed to complement the expertise of the peer review group, in accordance with the provisions of this part, on the scientific or technical merit of grant applications in those fields.

(l) Research means any systematic study directed toward new or fuller knowledge and understanding of the subject studied.

(m) Methodology means the project approach to be followed and the resources needed to carry out the project.