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Pilot Projects Program

Purpose: The mission of the EHSC Pilot Projects Program is to fund innovative and interdisciplinary basic research in environmental sciences as related to human health.

Grant Awards: Two to three projects totaling $50-100,000 per year.

The EHSC Pilot Projects Program provides initial support to encourage investigators to establish new directions of research. New pilot project proposals need not be in areas of research currently under investigation by the EHSC, but they must meet the NIEHS criteria of feasibility studies to stimulate basic research in environmental sciences as related to human health.

A successful pilot project is one that provides the preliminary data on an appropriate subject that in all probability will become a funded research grant from a federal or private agency. For those needing detailed information as to what constitutes relevancy, a copy of the annual progress report for the EHSC is available for review, upon request.

Currently Funded Projects:

  • Abby Benninghoff $20,000 - Perfluorinated Chemicals (PFCs) as Modulators of Tumorigenesis in Rainbow Trout
  • Kim Anderson $20,000 - Novel Combination of an Environmental Bioavailable Analytical System and an Aquatic Model

Pilot Project Review Procedure: Research proposals are evaluated on the basis of the following criteria: (1) relevancy to human health and (2) involvement of an environmental chemical or physical agent.

Pilot project proposal applications will be reviewed initially by the EHSC Director or his appointed representative. The Chair of the EHSC Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC), in consultation with the Director, will then select an appropriate Ad Hoc committee to review each pilot project proposal that is forwarded for review by the Director. Faculty members most suited for the review will be selected for these Ad Hoc committees, and care will be taken to avoid conflict of interest within the review committee.

Each Ad Hoc Committee will review its assigned proposal for scientific merit, and the members will each assign a priority score to the proposal: 1.0 is the highest, and 5.0 is a disapproval. The average of these scores along with a summary of committee comments will be forwarded to the Chair of the SAC. The SAC will make a recommendation to the Director on each proposal. The Director will then review the recommendations of each proposal with the EHSC Administrative Advisory Committee (AAC). The AAC will recommend to the Director the ranking of the proposals for possible funding. A final decision on funding of each pilot project proposal will be made by the EHSC Director. Pilot projects are normally awarded for a period of one year. The extension of a grant award period (without additional funding) can be requested by a letter to the Director.