Change Request Memo

Change Request
OMB Control Number 0920-0765
Fellowship Management System

Date Submitted: [07/18/2024]

Summary of Request

CDC requests OMB approval for non-substantive changes to the electronic Fellowship Management System (FMS). Changes are proposed to improve question clarity, improve relevance of response options, and streamline question logic. There are no changes to the currently approved estimates for the number of responses, burden per response, or total burden hours.

Purpose and Organization of the FMS

CDC uses FMS to collect, process, and manage data for 11 CDC fellowship programs (Table A). Information is collected from applicants who seek training or public health support services through CDC fellowships, individuals who provide references for applicants, sites that host fellows, and fellowship alumni. The FMS is comprised of 4 modules with specialized functionality: the Fellowship Application module, the Host Site Application module, the Activity Tracking module, and the Alumni Directory. Through Revisions and Change Requests, CDC adapts the FMS to changes in fellowship opportunities and content, to improve alignment and tailoring of questions for each fellowship program's eligibility criteria, and to clarify questions and instructions according to user feedback.

Table A: Current CDC Fellowships using FMS

Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS)

Epidemiology Elective Program (EEP)

CDC Steven M. Teutsch Prevention Effectiveness (PE) Fellowship

CDC E-learning Institute (ELI)

Future Leaders in Infectious and Global health Threats (FLIGHT)

Laboratory Leadership Service (LLS)

Public Health Informatics Fellowship Program (PHIFP)

Public Health Associates Program (PHAP)

Presidential Management Fellowship (PMF)

Evaluation Fellowship Program (EFP)

Science Ambassador Fellowship (SAF)

Description of Changes Requested

In this Change Request, CDC describes minor changes for 2 FMS modules (the Fellowship Application module and the Host Site Application module) that update data entry for fellowship programs. A summary overview is provided in Table B.

Table B: Summary of Changes for the Following Modules & Fellowships (green = yes included in this request):

• Revisions to PE’s Self Assessment of Skills section

• Removal of redundant questions from Application and Standardized Letters of Recommendation Modules

• Updates to formatting of Address/Location questions to streamline geographical data

• Revisions to PHIFP’s supervisor and host site sections

• Net changes to module by # of question

  • Fellowship Application Module: +1 question

  • Standardized Letters of Recommendation: -2 questions

  • Host Site Module: +9 questions

    • (the addition of these questions was determined to have a negligible impact on average burden of the collection, as they are primarily simple Street Address related questions)

The primary purpose of these changes is to increase alignment of collection materials with program goals that have changed over the course of the transition from the FMS 2.0 software to the 3.0 Microsoft Power Platform.

Detailed changes to each module are listed and described in Table D (Fellowship Application module), and Table E (Host Site Application module). These tables are provided at the end of this narrative. There are no changes to the Letters of Recommendation section in this change request.

Rationale for Change

During the transition from FMS 2.0 to 3.0 software, programs were asked to review the content of Fellowship and Host Site application modules to ensure program goals and needs were being met, and that content was ported from 2.0 to 3.0 without errors. During this review process programs also identified potential improvements to the modules. This change request is intended to maximize practicality and functionality of both modules for fellowships as they enter a new cycle of applications in the 3.0 platform.

Description of Changes to Burden

The current burden table includes changes approved 8/24/2023 and is provided below (Table C). CDC determined that the additional changes proposed at this time do not alter the current burden estimates for the FMS information collections (“ICs”) highlighted below), given that most changes are simple revisions of existing content or removal of minor questions, and there is not a substantial change in the average length or complexity of either module.

Table C: Estimated Annualized Burden Hours (approved 8/24/2023)

Type of respondents (Information Collection “IC” title)	Form	Number of Respondents	Number of Responses per Respondent	Average Burden per Response (in hours)	Total Burden (in hours)
Fellowship Applicants (Fellowship Applications)	FMS Application Module	5286	1	87/60	7665
Reference Letter Writers (Reference Letters for Fellowship Applicants)	FMS Application Module	7142	1	15/60	1786
Subset of FMS Fellowship Applicants** (FMS Application Writing Samples (Subset Applicants))	FMS Application Module (13.6)	220	1	30/60	110
Public Health Agency or Organization Staff (FMS Host Site Module)	FMS Host Site Module	970	1	75/60	1213
Public Health Agency or Organization Staff (Activity Tracking)	FMS Activity Tracking Module	555	2	30/60	555
Fellowship alumni* (FMS Alumni Directory)	FMS Alumni Directory	3484	1	37/60	2148
Total		18212			13477

Summary of Recent Changes Requested for this ICR

Submission	Approval Date	Content of Change
June 2022 Revision Request	3/13/2023	Moved to Microsoft Power Platform software, increase in number of respondents and total burden to reflect growth of fellowship programs.
August 2023 Change Request	8/24/2023	Added Evaluation Fellowship Program to FMS, removal of PMR/F and PH-TIPP from FMS, update to relevant SORN. Net increase in respondents and increase in burden due to EFP size.
November 2023 Change Request	11/8/2023	Adjustments to Application and Host Site module content to improve question clarity, improve relevance of response options, and streamline question logic.
December 2023 Change Request	01/05/2024	Adjustments to Application and Host Site module content to improve question clarity, improve relevance of response options, and streamline question logic. Removal of student loan repayment content.
July 2024 Change Request (Current Request)	TBD	Refinement of Self Assessment of Skills content for PE and PHIFP, modification of Address/Location questions to streamline geographical data,

TABLE D: FELLOWSHIP APPLICATION MODULE
Program	Type of Change	Sec.	Current Question/Item	Requested Change
SAF	Question Addition	Waitlist	n/a	Do you wish to remain on the waitlist for the Science Ambassador Fellowship?
PHIFP (ALL?)	Question Revision	Publications, Grants, Honors, and Awards	Grants: Open Text Response	Separate response fields for more detail on grants. Instructional text already present in the module asks respondents for the following: Titles Your roles Dates awarded Funding agencies Amounts awarded
PE	Question Revision	Eligibility	Do you have or are you in the process of completing a PhD degree? 1. Yes 2. No	Do you have, or are you currently working on, a doctoral degree (PhD, DrPH, PharmD, etc.) from an accredited academic institute in one of the following disciplines: 1. Economics or applied economics 2. Epidemiology 3. Evolutionary or analytic biology or ecology 4. Health services research or related health sciences 5. Industrial engineering 6. Operations research 7. Applied mathematics 8. Related quantitatively-oriented field Yes No
PE	Question Addition	Eligibility	n/a	Which track are you applying for? 1. Traditional Track 2. Modeling track
PE	Question Deactivation	Additional Training and Certifications	Certification of completion of clinical training upload: File upload field	Deactivate question for PE
All	Question Revision	Volunteer Experience	Title: Open text response	Add “Job” to prompt Job Title: Open text response
EFP	Question Revision	Document Uploads	Please upload your resume/cv.	Add “Your heading must include your full name, address, personal email address (no school or work emails), and your phone number. Also, please include the full date range for each role list (e.g. 01/01/2025 - 02/01/2025).”
EFP	Question Revision	Work and Volunteer Experience	Briefly describe up to three program evaluation projects you worked on. Please include your role in the project, evaluation approach and methods used, and outcomes or impact of the project (≤200 words per project).	Change to “Briefly describe up to three program evaluation projects you worked on. In your response, please share how the different areas of the evaluation framework were used to complete the project. Lastly, please include your role in the project, evaluation approach and methods used, and outcomes or impact of the project (≤200 words per project).”
EFP	Question Revision	Work and Volunteer Experience	Please describe your lived experience and/or experience working in a setting (e.g., work environment or situation), collaboration, or context where there is diverse representation in perspectives, background, and/or culture. Please describe how the environment, situation, or context is diverse and your approach to bringing different people, perspectives, and background together. Please describe how you may have considered for diversity, equity, belonging, inclusion, and accessibliity (DEBIA).* The diverse representation is more than demographics (e.g., age, sex, gender, race, culture) as it can include different disciplines, personalities, types of organizations, etc. This experience does not have to be specific to a project or to evaluation. (≤300 words)	Change to “Please describe your experience working in a setting (e.g., work, school, or volunteer environment) where there was diverse representation in perspectives, background, and/or culture. Please describe how the environment, situation, or context was diverse and your approach to bringing different people, perspectives, and backgrounds together. Please describe how you may have considered diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility, and belonging (DEIAB). The diverse representation is more than demographics (e.g., age, sex, gender, race, culture) as it can include different disciplines, personalities, types of organizations, etc. This experience does not have to be specific to a project or to evaluation. (≤300 words)”
PHIFP	Response Option Revision	Education and Licenses	Which type of coursework do you need to add? Open text response	Which type of coursework do you need to add? Epidemiology Biostatistics Health services administration and management Environmental health
ALL	Question Revision	Match	Reason for match decline? Open text response	Reason for decline? Open text response
PE	Question Deactivation	Self Assessment of Skills	Other Software #1: Open text response	Deactivate question for PE
PE	Question Deactivation	Self Assessment of Skills	Other Software #1 Skill Level: 1. Novice 2. Advanced Beginner 3. Competent 4. Proficient 5. Expert	Deactivate question for PE
PE	Question Deactivation	Self Assessment of Skills	Other Software #2: Open text response	Deactivate question for PE
PE	Question Deactivation	Self Assessment of Skills	Other Software #2 Skill Level: 1. Novice 2. Advanced Beginner 3. Competent 4. Proficient 5. Expert	Deactivate question for PE
PE	Question Deactivation	Self Assessment of Skills	Other Software #3: Open text response	Deactivate question for PE
PE	Question Deactivation	Self Assessment of Skills	Other Software #3 Skill Level: 1. Novice 2. Advanced Beginner 3. Competent 4. Proficient 5. Expert	Deactivate question for PE
PE	Question Deactivation	Self Assessment of Skills	STATA: 1. Novice 2. Advanced Beginner 3. Competent 4. Proficient 5. Expert	Deactivate question for PE
PE	Question Deactivation	Self Assessment of Skills	SAS: 1. Novice 2. Advanced Beginner 3. Competent 4. Proficient 5. Expert	Deactivate question for PE
PE	Question Deactivation	Self Assessment of Skills	R: 1. Novice 2. Advanced Beginner 3. Competent 4. Proficient 5. Expert	Deactivate question for PE
PE	Question Deactivation	Self Assessment of Skills	MATLAB: 1. Novice 2. Advanced Beginner 3. Competent 4. Proficient 5. Expert	Deactivate question for PE
PE	Question Deactivation	Self Assessment of Skills	Excel: 1. Novice 2. Advanced Beginner 3. Competent 4. Proficient 5. Expert	Deactivate question for PE
PE	Question Deactivation	Self Assessment of Skills	List datasets where you have Competent, Proficient, or Expert experience and indicate your level experience for each (Competent, Proficient, Expert) Open Text Response	Deactivate question for PE
PE	Question Revision	Self Assessment of Skills	Data sciences (wrangling, cleansing, modeling, analytics) 1. Novice 2. Advanced Beginner 3. Competent 4. Proficient 5. Expert	Wrangling, Cleansing, and Organizing Data Sets for Research 1. Novice 2. Advanced Beginner 3. Competent 4. Proficient 5. Expert
PE	Question Revision	Self Assessment of Skills	Data science experience: Open text response	Wrangling, Cleansing, and Organizing Datasets experience: Open text response
PE	Question Addition	Self Assessment of Skills	Econometric Methods (DnD, Panel Data, Regression Discontinuity, Instrumental Variables, Mixed Methods, Etc.) 1. Novice 2. Advanced Beginner 3. Competent 4. Proficient 5. Expert	Add question for PE
PE	Question Addition	Self Assessment of Skills	Econometric Methods Experience Open Text Response	Add question for PE
PE	Question Addition	Self Assessment of Skills	Modeling Methods (Disease Transmission, Compartmental, Agent-based, Spatial, Network, Simulation, System Dynamics, Etc.) 1. Novice 2. Advanced Beginner 3. Competent 4. Proficient 5. Expert	Add question for PE
PE	Question Addition	Self Assessment of Skills	Modeling Methods Experience Open Text Response	Add question for PE
PE	Question Revision	Self Assessment of Skills	Data Science Methods (e.g., machine learning, NLP, deep learning) 1. Novice 2. Advanced Beginner 3. Competent 4. Proficient 5. Expert	AI and Big Data Methods (Machine Learning, NLP, Deep Learning, etc) 1. Novice 2. Advanced Beginner 3. Competent 4. Proficient 5. Expert
PE	Question Revision	Self Assessment of Skills	Data Science Methods Experience: Open Text response	AI and Big Data Methods Experience Open Text Response
PE	Question Addition	Self Assessment of Skills	Data visualization applications (DataViz, R Shiny, etc) 1. Novice 2. Advanced Beginner 3. Competent 4. Proficient 5. Expert	Add question for PE
PE	Question Addition	Self Assessment of Skills	Data visualization application experience: Open Text Response	Add question for PE
PE	Question Deactivation	Self Assessment of Skills	Programming Languages and Scripting (Python, R, C, C++, Java, Scala, C#, Javascript, PHP) 1. Novice 2. Advanced Beginner 3. Competent 4. Proficient 5. Expert	Deactivate question for PE
PE	Question Deactivation	Self Assessment of Skills	Programming Languages and Scripting Experience: Open Text Response	Deactivate question for PE
PE	Question Addition	Self Assessment of Skills	Statistical Analysis Software (STATA, SAS, R, Julia, Python, Matlab, etc.) 1. Novice 2. Advanced Beginner 3. Competent 4. Proficient 5. Expert	Add question for PE
PE	Question Addition	Self Assessment of Skills	Experience with Statistical analysis software: Open Text response	Add question for PE
PE	Question Addition	Self Assessment of Skills	Other Programming Languages (C++, Javascript, etc) 1. Novice 2. Advanced Beginner 3. Competent 4. Proficient 5. Expert	Add question for PE
PE	Question Addition	Self Assessment of Skills	Experience with other programming languages: Open Text response	Add question for PE
PE	Question Addition	Self Assessment of Skills	Use of Public Health Data (MarketScan, MEPS, HCup, IQvia, NHANES, Surveillance, Vital Statistics, Census, etc.) 1. Novice 2. Advanced Beginner 3. Competent 4. Proficient 5. Expert	Add question for PE
PE	Question Addition	Self Assessment of Skills	Explain your use of Public Health Data Open Text response

TABLE E: SLOR
Program	Type of Change	Page/ Section	Current Question/Item	Requested Change
All	Question Revision		As a candidate for this fellowship/program, I consider the applicant: 1. Not suitable 2. Minimally suitable 3. Suitable 4. Very suitable 5. Most suitable ever	As a candidate for this fellowship/program, I consider the applicant: 1. Not suitable 2. Minimally suitable 3. Suitable 4. Very suitable 5. One of the most suitable ever
All	Question Removal		Name of person submitting the recommendation form	Remove this question
All	Question Removal		Name of person for whom this recommendation is being submitted	Remove this question

TABLE F: HOST SITE APPLICATION MODULE
Program	Type of Change	Page/ Section	Current Question/Item	Requested Change
PHIFP	Question Addition	Background	n/a	Background information about your site:
All	Response Option Revision	Public Health Agency Details	Public Health Agency Type: 1. CDC 2. Federal Government (Other) 3. State 4. Local 5. Territorial 6. Tribal 7. Community-based Organization 8. Indian Health Service area offices 9. University or other academia 10. Private public health organization 11. Non-profit organization 12. Other	Public Health Agency Type: CDC/ATSDR Indian Health Service Federal government (other) State government Local government Territorial government Tribal government or organization University or other academia Other non-governmental organization Other (not listed above)
PHIFP	Question Deactivation	Supervisor Experience	How many years as a Secondary Supervisor for this fellow?	Deactivate question for PHIFP
PHIFP	Question Deactivation	Supervisor Experience	Please provide the full name, class year, and email address of fellows/associates from this fellowship/program supervised over the past 5 year	Deactivate question for PHIFP
PHIFP	Question Deactivation	Supervisor Experience	Please provide the fellowship, fellow name, class year, and email address of fellows supervised from other fellowships:	Deactivate question for PHIFP
PHIFP	Question Deactivation	Supervisor Experience	Last year supervised a fellow/associate from this fellowship/program?	Deactivate question for PHIFP
PHIFP	Question Deactivation	Supervisor Experience	Describe the supervisor’s mentoring experience	Deactivate question for PHIFP
PHIFP	Question Deactivation	Supervisor Information	If the Primary Supervisor is unable to continue supervision can the secondary supervisor step in?	Deactivate question for PHIFP
PHIFP	Question Revision	Supervisor Information	How much time per week (hours) can the supervisor devote to supervise?	How much time per week (hours) can the supervisor/mentor devote to supervise?
PHIFP	Question Deactivation	Proposed projects	Briefly describe the host site proposed projects:	Deactivate question for PHIFP
PHIFP	Question Deactivation	Position Assignment Details	Proposed initial projects:	Deactivate question for PHIFP
PHIFP	Question Activation	Position Assignment Location	Street Address Open Text response	Activate this question for PHIFP
PHIFP	Question Activation	Position Assignment Location	Address Line 2 Open Text response	Activate this question for PHIFP
PHIFP	Question Activation	Position Assignment Location	Address Line 3 Open Text response	Activate this question for PHIFP
PHIFP	Question Activation	Position Assignment Location	Suite, Room: Open Text response	Activate this question for PHIFP
PHIFP	Question Activation	Position Assignment Location	State/Territory: Open Text response	Activate this question for PHIFP
PHIFP	Question Activation	Position Assignment Location	City: Open Text response	Activate this question for PHIFP
PHIFP	Question Activation	Position Assignment Location	Zip code: Open Text response	Activate this question for PHIFP
ALL	Question Addition	Adding New Supervisors	Address Line 2 Open Text response	Add question for all fellowships For this question and the following address related: purpose is to match formatting and details of Supervisor address info for other host site related locations
ALL	Question Addition	Adding New Supervisors	Address Line 3 Open Text response	Add question for all fellowships
ALL	Question Addition	Adding New Supervisors	Suite/Room: Open Text response	Add question for all fellowships
ALL	Question Addition	Adding New Supervisors	City: Open Text response	Add question for all fellowships
ALL	Question Addition	Adding New Supervisors	State/Territory: Open Text response	Add question for all fellowships
ALL	Question Addition	Adding New Supervisors	Zip code: Open Text response	Add question for all fellowships
PE	Question Addition	Activity and Deliverable Details	What is the anticipated role of the fellow? Lead Support Other	Add question for PE
PE	Question Addition	Activity and Deliverable Details	(For above question if “Other” selected) Specify Role: Open Text Response	Add question for PE
PE	Question Addition	Public Health Agency Details	Type of fellow requested: CDC Steven M. Teutsch Prevention Effectiveness (Traditional) CDC Public Health Analytics and Modeling	Add question for PE
PE	Question Revision	Position Assignment Details	Describe the assignment setting: Open text response	Describe the assignment setting, including information about how often and which days staff is on site, routine all-staff meeting days, etc.: Open text response