Center for Appalachian Research in Environmental Sciences-Pilot Project Program (PPP)

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PROJECT SUMMARY – Pilot Project Program The University of Kentucky Center for Appalachian Research and Environmental Science (UK-CARES) Pilot Project Program (PPP) aims to support highly innovative and collaborative research studies that will enhance the ability to identify and capitalize on the Center’s science themes and build community-academic partnerships across the translational spectrum. This goal will be accomplished by providing pilot funds along with guidance and support for innovative, time-sensitive preliminary studies and community projects that improve our understanding of environmental exposures, human biology, and disease. Specifically, the aims of the PPP are to 1) support new opportunities for innovative, collaborative environmental health research; 2) enhance interactions and expand the critical mass of investigators with expertise and experience in multi- disciplinary, translational environmental health research at UK and in Appalachian communities; 3) provide guidance and support to ensure the success of UK-CARES Pilot Projects; and 4) evaluate utilization, efficiency, quality, and impact of the PPP. Strong institutional support of the PPP from UK is a hallmark of our proposal. In fact, UK entities will provide matching funds, representing 37% of the total funds allocated for pilot projects. The PPP will provide three general categories of pilot research funding opportunities consistent with the science themes and strategic vision of UK-CARES. First, Pilot grants will generate new preliminary data and support (a) established Center members to catalyze new research opportunities consistent with Center science themes; (b) non-member scientists to expand collaborations and bring new dimensions to the Center; and (c) creative, early-stage investigators to establish competitive research programs. Second, Community grants will provide direct support to community organizations with a UK faculty collaborator to address a priority science theme. Third, Mini grants will foster rapid, time-sensitive development of, or access to, new and novel technologies as well as community-engaged research. The PPP will communicate, collaborate, coordinate, and create synergy across Center cores and programs to ensure that pilot-funded investigators receive the assistance they need to develop and carry out their pilot projects. The PPP will engage investigators and community stakeholders, both within UK-CARES and outside the Center, as reviewers and grantees to address questions related to environmental pathways (e.g., water, air) to exposures, human biology, and new contaminants and emerging threats. The overall progress of the PPP, and how effectively it has promoted environmental health research, will be monitored through the existing tracking and evaluation component of UK’s Center for Clinical and Translational Science, in coordination with the Administrative Core. Incorporating pilot-funded faculty into the Center will have a major impact on expanding the ability of our Center to examine important questions related to emerging environmental health issues and novel technologies, and to bolster the development of the next generation of environmental health scientists.