Information Session January 18, 2018 1:00-1:45 pm RFP: http://www.iee.psu.edu/health-environment-seed-grant-2018 Questions regarding the RFP email to: info@ssri.psu.edu

Sponsoring Units Penn State College of Medicine Penn State Cancer Institute Social Science Research Institute Clinical and Translational Science Institute Materials Research Institute Institute for CyberScience Institutes of Energy and the Environment

Goals of the Seed Grant Build collaborations involving new interdisciplinary cross-College, Campus and/or Institute teams whose research is aimed at attracting external funding Encourage interdisciplinary projects exhibiting innovative methods, devices or analytics to significant problems related to human health and the environment

Sample topics: Environmental impacts to human health from factors including but not limited to indoor/outdoor air, land, water, home/neighborhood/work/school, noise, light, population density, stress and trauma The use of sensors or other devices to capture environmental influences on human health Population variations in environmental exposures and their impacts on human health The role of human behavior in health-relevant environmental exposures

Sample topics (cont.) Advanced computation- and data-enabled research, particularly with the integration of human health and environmental data sets Environment-cancer linkages, particularly within the Penn State Cancer Institute’s 27-county catchment area in central Pennsylvania

Preferred activities for funding Collaborations involving junior and senior faculty Projects that… are proof of concept projects that provide preliminary data necessary for external funding MUST encompass at least two dimensions of the environment, including biological, social, built, physical and/or natural dimensions are aimed at developing and/or applying novel methods, devices, and/or analytics test potential solutions to adverse effects of the environment on health

Seed Grant eligibility All faculty members holding an appointment of half-time or more Tenured, Tenure track, Fixed Term, Clinicians Interdisciplinary, cross-unit research team. Single investigator projects will not be considered Investigators may be lead or Co-PI on a single proposal but may serve as collaborator on up to two proposals Pennsylvania state agencies, federal agencies and private industry may collaborate but are not eligible for funding

Funding availability At least $400,000 is available through this solicitation Funding levels Project costs will generally range from $25,000-$50,000 Funding is not available for single investigator projects Award period: July 1, 2018 through June 30, 2020

Allowable expenses (salaries) Graduate and undergraduate student support (including stipends/fringe and tuition) Up to $5,000/proposal for salary/fringe benefits of fixed term faculty and staff members who will contribute to the project (other than tenured/tenure track faculty)

Allowable expenses (fees and equipment) Instrumentation fees and sample analysis to collect preliminary data Equipment, supplies, technical equipment. Use of shared facilities is encouraged; a list of available facilities is at http://ctsi.psu.edu/research-resources/eagle-i/. Funding for data conversion technology and wages to support data conversion Participant payments and expenses related to the use of human subjects

Allowable expenses (travel and meetings) Travel associated with the conduct or reporting of seed grant research Hosting a research planning meeting for an interdisciplinary team

Unallowable expenses Summer or supplemental salary support for tenured/tenure track faculty Postdoc salary Travel support to attend conferences Funding for non-Penn State collaborators (including travel)

Review criteria Proposed projects will be scored utilizing a 9-point rating scale (1 = exceptional; 9 = poor) for each of 6 criteria (based on NIH criteria) Significance – project will advance understanding or solutions to at least two of the following environmental dimensions (biological, social, built, physical and/or natural) Investigators – the interdisciplinary team of investigators and collaborators has the expertise needed to conduct the project Innovation – project challenges or shifts current research or practice paradigms and advances novel concepts, methods, instrumentation or interventions, or applies these in novel ways Approach - procedures and analysis plans clearly described, justified and appropriate to accomplish the specific aims Environment - appropriateness of the resources, facilities equipment and budget request for the needs of the proposed project. Overall Impact - the likelihood of the research to exert a sustained, powerful influence on the research field

Key dates Feb. 15, 2018: Pre-proposals due no later than 5:00 pm Submit through Infoready online at https://psu.infoready4.com/#competitionDetail/1766986 Week of Mar. 15: PIs notified of pre-proposal results; full proposals requested April 13, 2018: Full proposals due no later than 5:00 pm May 15, 2018: Seed Grant funding decisions announced July 1, 2018: Funding available (projects must be completed by June 30, 2020)

Questions and more information Questions regarding the program should be submitted to: info@ssri.psu.edu More information, this presentation and webinar recording, and the full RFP can be found at http://www.iee.psu.edu/health-environment-seed-grant-2018