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| Clark Lantz, PhD, SWEHSC Deputy Director, discussing the pilot project program (2008) |
The Southwest Environmental Health Sciences
Center (SWEHSC) awards up to $40,000
for pilot projects involving research related to the mission
of the National
Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the Center.
Pilot projects are designed to:
- Provide short-term support projects aimed at exploring new areas of environmental health research and acquiring preliminary data necessary to pursue long-term extramural funding
- To support the development of new investigators and non-members who wish to redirect their research to include environmental health
- To test the most innovative ideas relevant to environmental health
Outcomes to date:
Since 1999, 40 pilot projects (selected from 114 applications) have been funded for a total of $1,116,440. From these pilot projects, recipients have received $12,663,311 in extramural funding with over $6,000,000 in pending applications. The return on investment over the past twelve years has ranged from 1:11 to as high as 1:16.
2010 Funding - In this round of funding, priority was given to projects involving translational research, defined as research that advances a scientific finding toward practical application in the areas of public health, medical treatment/management, or public policy. Collaborative efforts that foster integration of basic science, public health research including epidemiology and intervention studies, and patient-oriented clinical research among basic scientists, clinical researchers, and/or public health practitioners was also encouraged. Research to improve early detection, prevention, and/or therapy for environmentally – related disorders, or which utilizes well characterized patients and control subjects are examples of the types of research projects that were responsive to the solicitation.
