The NIEHS Center for Environmental Health Sciences (CEHS) at UC Davis funds several pilot projects each year. The Center's mission is to study the health effects of agrochemicals and related xenobiotics, particularly the mechanistic aspects of toxicology. 

Letter of Intent: Deadline will be announced soon.

Application Deadline: Will be announced soon.

Eligibility for funding is limited to pilot projects that:

1. Provide initial support for new investigators with P.I. status (who have not received NIH R01, R29, P01 awards) to establish new lines of research.
2. Allow exploration of innovative new research directions (significant departure from ongoing funded research) by CEHS faculty.
3. Stimulate established investigators outside the CEHS to explore innovative new research projects in environmental health, generally in collaboration with CEHS faculty, and who might offer innovative ideas or special skills which benefit this center.
4. Support technical advances to develop a specific technical expertise that the CEHS needs. 

A successful application is anticipated to:
Propose research that is relevant to the goals and mission of the Center and is relevant to real world health problems.
Be innovative (including high risk) and provide a new direction or dimension to the repertoire of CEHS research.
Stimulate use of core facilities and collaboration between Center labs and the recipient lab.
Lead to tangible results in a 1-2 year period with a reasonable likelihood of new NIH R01 grant funding.
Lead to continued cooperation with the Center and possible membership (for outside applicants).

The Center anticipates making up to 5 awards of $15,000 to $30,000 each with the possibility of renewal for a second year. Some of the funding may be derived from core utilization. Recipients of awards will provide a year-end progress report documenting collaborations and core use. Renewal for a second year will be by application in competition with new applications and must include a progress report. Recipients will inform the Center of publications and competitive grants received subsequently as a result of the supported research.

Procedure:

Letter of intent: A short (half page) summary giving the title and subject of the proposal must be submitted to the CEHS.

Proposal: Seven (7) hard copies of the application and one emailed copy must be received.

An application must include:
Brief background and statement of hypothesis and significance
Experimental plan, methods and specific collaborations/core use
Anticipated results
Source of potential future independent funding
Explanation of pilot project eligibility (categories 1-4)
Budget with justification for direct costs (personnel, supplies, equipment, but no travel)

The description section (background, hypothesis, methods, results, etc.) of the application should not exceed 6 pages in double-spaced text. In addition, you should attach a list of bibliographic references (no page limit), a budget page, and an NIH 4-page biographical sketch for each investigator.

It is NOT necessary to route this application through your dean's office or the Office of Research.

For questions concerning this program contact: Andrew Porter (530-752-4251, asporter@ucdavis.edu).

Technical inquiries can be answered by Robert Rice (rhrice@ucdavis.edu).

A list of CEHS investigators and their areas of interest may be found at http://www.envtox.ucdavis.edu/cehs/faculty.htm.

Letters of intent and proposals should be sent via email AND hard copy to:
Andrew Porter
Department of Environmental Toxicology
4251 Meyer Hall
University of California
One Shields Avenue
Davis, CA 95616
Tel 530-752-4251, Fax 530-752-3394, asporter@ucdavis.edu