NIH R15 AREA Grant Proposal Preparation

Main NIH link

NIH Academic Research Enhancement Award (AREA) Program (R15) is a specifically designed research grant directed at funding undergraduate institutions who:

1) conduct meritorious research related to the goals of the NIH,

2) expose students to research activities related to the goals of the NIH, and

3) need help strengthening the research environment of the institution.

The AREA Program is focused on institutions and principal investigators (PI) who have NOT been majors recipients of NIH funding. The program supports research over a period of 3 years with direct costs limited to $300,000. Grants are renewable and preliminary data are NOT required.

The following is the "text" from the PA-16-200 Overview document

Funding Opportunity Purpose

The purpose of the Academic Research Enhancement Award (AREA) program is to stimulate research in educational institutions that provide baccalaureate or advanced degrees for a significant number of the Nation's research scientists, but that have not been major recipients of NIH support. AREA grants create opportunities for scientists and institutions otherwise unlikely to participate extensively in NIH research programs to contribute to the Nation's biomedical and behavioral research effort. AREA grants are intended to support small-scale research projects proposed by faculty members of eligible, domestic institutions, to expose undergraduate and/or graduate students to meritorious research projects, and to strengthen the research environment of the applicant institution.

Monmouth College's Eligibility

The AREA program was brought the the attention of the chemistry department by Karen Bush Watts and Dan Watts during a recent alumni visit (Feb 2017). As summarizes above MC is the target institution for the R15 program. Three of the four chemistry faculty members work on research of NIH interests and it is possible that other MC science faculty might also be interested in being a co-PI or submitting a separate R15 proposal.

Plan of Action

We propose to submit a proposal for the Oct 25th, 2017 application deadline.

The submission of an R15 proposal will require efforts from both the administration and the faculty.

FACULTY

1) Faculty/Principal Investigators and research projects must be must be outlined...see item 2.

2) As noted at the main webpage under Developing Your AREA Application, it is suggested that we contact the AREA representative from relevant NIH Institute to inquire about their interest in supporting our research project, as well as the Institute's funding plans for the AREA program for the current fiscal year. We propose to submit to NIEHS due to Sturgeon's familiarity with the Institute's goals as well as internal connections to the "intramural research programs." Additionally, NIEHS has loaned the MC Chemistry Department EPR instrumentation to advance our research goals, many of which are related to the work Sturgeon did as a Postdoctoral Fellow at NIEHS.

3) Begin work on the Grants.gov proposal.

4) Be aware of the "special project information" needed (see webpage under Developing Your AREA Application):

4a) A profile of the students of the applicant institution/academic component and any information or estimate of the number who have obtained a baccalaureate degree and gone on to obtain an academic or professional doctoral degree in the health-related sciences during the last five years.

4b) A description of the special characteristics of the institution/academic component that make it appropriate for an AREA grant, where the goals of the AREA program are to: (1) provide support for meritorious research; (2) strengthen the research environment of schools that have not been major recipients of NIH support; and (3) expose available undergraduate and/or graduate students in such environments to research.

4c) Description of the likely impact of an AREA grant on the PD(s)/PI(s).

4d) Description of the likely impact of an AREA grant on the research environment of the institution/academic component.