Environmental Health Sciences Research Center

University of Iowa College of Public Health

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You are here: Home / Resources & Opportunities / Pilot Grant Program

Pilot Grant Program

The Pilot Grant Program is a highly valued component of the EHSRC, serving both the research and training missions of the Center. This program has helped advance the careers of numerous talented investigators by nurturing innovative ideas and creating opportunities for further grant support and publication in environmental health. Since the founding of the EHSRC, investments in the Pilot Grant Programs ($4,930,000) have produced grant progeny with a value of $51,500,000. This represents a more than 11-fold return on investment. Betsy Stone directs the Pilot Grant Program.

Goals:

The goals of the pilot program are to:

  • Provide initial support for junior investigators to establish new lines of environmental health research
  • Provide services of state-of-the-art facility cores to pilot grant investigators to enhance their research
  • Facilitate exploration of innovative new directions in environmental health for established investigators
  • Stimulate investigators from other disciplines to apply their expertise to environmental health research
  • Foster new interdisciplinary collaborations through awarding of pilot projects to investigators that have not previously worked together

Research Interests:

The EHSRC Pilot Grant Program seeks innovative, environmental health-related research proposals. Proposals for laboratory and/or field research will be accepted.

General areas of EHSRC interest for funding include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Climate change impacts on human health
  • Studies of individual susceptibility to disease resulting from environmental factors across the lifespan
  • Role of the microbiome as a target and mediator of environmental exposures
  • Environmental risk factors for disease
  • Human and animal toxicology
  • Enhanced assessment of exposures to environmental agents
  • Environmental remediation and control
  • Water quality and human health
  • Ambient and indoor air quality and human health
  • Understanding and addressing environmental health disparities and environmental justice
  • Disaster response research
  • Projects that address emerging environmental health issues
  • Translational research that promotes knowledge to action

Specific areas of EHSRC interest for funding include:

  • Projects that use a Precision Environmental Health approach to reduce the adverse health effects of exposures by identifying individuals who are specifically susceptible to environmental threats and enabling precise, targeted, and effective prevention
  • Projects that strategically utilize the Integrated Health Science Facility Core’s Advanced Pulmonary Physiomic Imaging Laboratory (APPIL)
  • Projects that nucleate new interdisciplinary research teams and/or lay the groundwork for an NIEHS ViCTER application

In addition, science-based projects are eligible to receive up to $5,000 in additional funds for a community engagement supplement. For more information about this opportunity, please see the guidelines for application below.

All Pilot Grant funds must be spent domestically. If a project has components outside of the United States, those components cannot be funded through this grant.

Current Deadline (this deadline has now passed and no more submissions will be considered for this round)

  • February 1, 2023:  Preliminary communications as outlined
  • February 15, 2023:  Final Submission
Guidelines for Application

Key Dates:

  • February 1, 2023: Communication with appropriate Center Facility Director (Visit Center Facilities Page to identify the most relevant facility for your proposal)
  • February 1, 2023: Budget approval (send to Mindy Sickels Sterbenz at mindy-sickels@uiowa.edu)
  • February 15, 2023: Proposal submission

Funding Available:

Funds up to a maximum of $40,000 will be awarded directly to an investigator for a one-year period. Of this, up to $6,000 may be budgeted for the combined salary and fringe benefits of the principal investigator. We expect to make approximately 4 – 6 awards to meritorious applications.

Budgetary Restrictions:

  • Salary and fringe for the Principal Investigator must not exceed $6,000
  • Travel expenses are not allowed, unless clearly for the purpose of conducting research (ie; field sampling, data collection)
  • Purchase of computer equipment is not allowed
  • Purchase of food for events is not allowed

Community Engagement Provision:

Any pilot proposal with a community component should consult with the Brandi Janssen (CEC) to discuss opportunities for community engagement. Science-based projects are eligible to receive up to $5000 in additional funds for a community engagement supplement. Investigators should consult with the Community Engagement Core of the EHSRC prior to submitting a supplement proposal, which should be no longer than one half page. Funds required to achieve the activities in the supplement should be described in the budget justification.  Potential approaches include:

  • Citizen science projects in which community members participate in data collection and/or analysis
  • The inclusion of a community stakeholder advisory board or other mechanism that provides regular community input and feedback to the investigators to ensure that project results are relevant to community concerns
  • Inclusion of disenfranchised populations in research that will reduce environmental disparities or improve environmental justice

Specific Aims Review (optional):

The Specific Aims Review Meeting is hosted by the EHSRC Career Enhancement Program. It is open to all investigators preparing to submit EHSRC pilot grant proposals for submission to the Center. For specific guidelines for participation, please visit the following link: Specific Aims Meeting Guidelines

Submission

Eligibility:

Researchers from University of Iowa who are eligible to apply for K or R01 grants from NIH may apply. This specifically includes Post-doctoral Fellows, Post-doctoral Scholars, Faculty (all ranks), Research Scientists, Research Engineers, Associate Research Scientists, and Associate Research Engineers. Students and staff may not be investigators but may be designated to receive salary support and should be listed in the budget.

We specifically encourage the following applicants:

  • Junior investigators with interests in pursuing environmental health research
  • Senior investigators who wish to move into new directions or into new collaborations within the environmental health sciences research arena

Section and Page Requirements:

Page Limit Section

1

Cover Page (Title, Investigators, Affiliations, and 250 word Abstract)

Public Health Relevance Statement:

Describe the relevance of this research to public health in, at most, three sentences. For example, describe how, in the short or long term, the research would contribute to fundamental knowledge about the nature and behavior of living systems and / or the translation of that knowledge to enhance health and lengthen life.

1

Specific Aims

5

Research Strategy including:

  • Project Narrative
  • Summary
  • Significance
  • Innovation
  • Approach with preliminary data (if any)

The sections of the EHSRC pilot grant application closely follow the NIH research grant application instructions.  For guidance on what to include in the project narrative, summary, significance, innovation, and approach, please see this application guide.

2

Additional required information:

  • Research schedule and milestones
  • Use of Center facilities
  • Potential for future grant support- outline a specific path to future funding. Include conversations with a program administrator at NIEHS about your larger application idea(s). Specifically list RFAs you will apply for.
  •  Translational research – see NIEHS for more information (https://www.niehs.nih.gov/research/programs/translational/index.cfm)

1/2

Community Engagement supplement (if applicable)

1

Detailed Budget and Justification (up to $6,000 may be budgeted for the combined salary and fringe benefits of the principal investigator)

Grant applications, in the form of a single PDF file attachment, should be sent to Nancy Wyland (nancy-wyland@uiowa.edu) via e-mail by the stated deadline.

Other required documents are:

  • NIH Biosketches  for Each Investigator
  • EHSRC Routing Form
  • Letter of support from appropriate EHSRC Facility Director(s) 
  • Letter of commitment from collaborating institution(s), if applicable
  • Letter from community collaborating institution(s), if applicable

Principal Investigator/Awardee Responsibilities

The first individual listed as an investigator of a pilot grant is the corresponding author, and will be responsible should the pilot grant be funded for the timely completion of the research and the appropriate expenditure of funds.

Prior to issuance of a pilot grant, the awardee must agree to:

  • Cite support of the EHSRC (NIH P30 ES005605) on all manuscripts, posters, and abstracts emanating therefrom;
  • Spend the funds within the one-year award period (carryover requests are strongly discouraged);
  • Submit a two-page progress report within three months of project completion;
  • Present completed work within six months of project completion in the EHSRC seminar series;
  • Submit a photo for use in publicizing the program

Pilot Grant Proposal Study Section:

Primary Reviewer (May be outside EHSRC)
Secondary Reviewer (May be outside EHSRC)
Internal Advisory Committee Members (N=12)

Proposal Review Criteria:

  • Relevance to EHSRC goals 
  • Relevance to the NIEHS Strategic Plan
  • Originality and scientific relevance
  • Validity and reliability of methods
  • Qualifications of investigators
  • Special consideration for junior faculty, or new directions
  • Use of EHSRC facilities
  • Likelihood of future extramural funding
  • Appropriateness of the budget

EHSRC PGP Reviewer Guidelines 2021

 

Who to Contact

For further information regarding the pilot program, please contact:
Technical Advice: Dr. Betsy Stone / betsy-stone@uiowa.edu
Programmatical Information: Ms. Nancy Wyland, Coordinator / nancy-wyland@uiowa.edu

For information regarding resources available through EHSRC Facilities, contact:

  • Pulmonary Toxicology Facility (Dr. Peter Thorne, 319-335-4216)
  • Exposure Science Facility (Dr. Patrick O’Shaughnessy, 319-335-4202)
  • Integrative Health Sciences Facility (Dr. Alejandro Comellas, 319-384-6484)

For information about applying for a Community Engagement Core supplement, contact:

  • Community Engagement Core (Dr. Brandi Janssen, 319-335-4190)

For information about Center researchers within EHSRC Research Thematic Areas, contact:

  • Systemic and Redox Toxicology (Dr. Hans Joachim-Lehmler, 319-335-4310)
  • Inflammation and Innate Immunity (Dr. Paul McCray, 319-335-6844
  • Population Health (Dr.Kelly Baker, 319 384-4008)
  • Nanotoxicology (Dr. Peter Thorne, 319-335-4216)
  • Water Quality and Human Health (Dr. Hans-Joachim Lehmler, 319-335-4310)
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Dr. Betsy Stone working on her project characterizing air toxics an their sources in agricultural environments.

Related Pages

  • Disaster Response Protocol
  • NIEHS Funding Opportunities
  • BioBank Information
  • Pilot Grant Program
  • Career Enhancement Program

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Environmental Health Sciences Research Center | S300 CPHB | Iowa City, IA 52242-5000 | (319) 335-4756


The EHSRC is funded by NIH P30 ES005605

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