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 ($4,493,000) have produced grant progeny with a value of >$50,000,000. This represents a more than 11-fold return on investment. Dr. Thomas Peters 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 from University of Iowa researchers eligible to apply for K or R01 grants from NIH. Proposals for laboratory and/or field research will be accepted. Areas of EHSRC interest for funding include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Studies of susceptibility to environmentally induced disease
  • Studies of developmental origins of health and disease (DOHaD)
  • Nanotoxicology
  • Role of microbiome in environmental health
  • 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 (particular interest in receiving applications that employ interdisciplinary teams (i.e. biomedical researchers and engineers) to study water contaminants
  • Air quality and human health
  • Engaged research on environmental justice communities
  • Disaster Response Research
  • Studies of the health effects of vaping and hookah

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 February 1, 2020

Guidelines for Application

Key Dates:

  • January 15, 2020 – Communication with appropriate Center Facility Director (Visit Center Facilities Page to identify the most relevant facility for your proposal)
  • January 15, 2020 – Budget approval (send to Mindy Sickels Sterbenz at mindy-sickels@uiowa.edu)
  • February 1, 2020 – 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:

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 Development 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

Upcoming Specific Aims Review meetings available to pilot grant applicants are scheduled for the following dates: (All meetings are from 1-2 pm in CPHB room S302.)

  • October 17, 2019
  • January 9, 2020
  • February 20, 2020
  • April 2, 2020
  • May 15, 2020
  • June 25, 2020
  • August 6, 2020

Submission

Eligibility:

All University of Iowa researchers eligible for apply for K or R01 grants from NIH are invited to apply. This specifically includes Post-doctoral Fellows, Post-doctoral Scholars, Faculty (all ranks) and Research Scientists, Research Engineers, Associate Research Scientists, Associate Research Engineers, Other categories of individuals; 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)

1

Specific Aims

5

Research Strategy including:

  • Significance
  • Innovation
  • Approach with preliminary data (if any)

1

Additional required information:

  • Research schedule and milestones
  • Use of Center facilities
  • Potential for future grant support

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 Proposal 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 (or a few) of your project activities for marketing use

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
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

Scoring Guidelines

 

Who to Contact

For further information regarding the pilot program, please contact:
Technical Advice: Dr. Thomas Peters/319-335-4436 / thomas-m-peters@uiowa.edu
Programmatical Information: Ms. Nancy Wyland, Coordinator / 319-335-4756 / 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:

  • Oxidative Stress and Metabolism (Dr. Hans Joachim-Lehmler, 319-335-4310)
  • Inflammation and Innate Immunity (Dr. Paul McCray, 319-335-6844
  • Population Health (Dr. Bill Field, 319-335-4413)
  • Nanotoxicology (Dr. Peter Thorne, 319-335-4216)
  • Water Quality and Human Health (Dr. Hans-Joachim Lehmler, 319-335-4310)
Past Pilot Projects

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Dr. Betsy Stone working on her project characterizing air toxics an their sources in agricultural environments.

Related Pages

  • Pilot Grant Program
  • Career Development Program

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Environmental Health Sciences Research Center | S373 CPHB | Iowa City, IA 52242-5000 | (319) 335-4756


The EHSRC is funded by NIH P30 ES005605

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