HERCULES: PILOT PROJECT PROGRAM – ABSTRACT/SUMMARY The HERCULES Pilot Project Program will build on our experience and success to support and expand innovative exposome research at Emory University and Georgia Tech, in order to broaden the impact and influence of the Center on the respective institutions and to continue to grow capacity of the Center in its leadership in translational exposomic and environmental health-related research and technologies. HERCULES Pilot Awards from the current cycle resulted in over 17 publications and received $9.5 million in external funding for the research developed by their Projects. Community-engaged pilots were funded each year and led to impacts on their community partners ranging from federal remediation efforts to local policy change. The Pilot Project Program will fund six full, year-long, pilot projects per year as well as up to four smaller ENHANCE grants that will provide HERCULES members with short-duration, limited funds on a time- sensitive basis, to expedite new environmental health-focused NIH R- or P-level grants and/or gather data needed for revision of a reviewed NIH application. The mechanism for review of the full applications is augmented by a new collaboration with the NIEHS Environmental Health Core Center at North Carolina State University. While the primary criterion for funding will be the perceived likelihood of the project to seed a successful R-level NIEHS grant application, additional criteria are alignment with the NIEHS Strategic Plan, cross-departmental (school or institutional) collaborations, investigators entering the field of environmental health or exposome research, use of HERCULES Cores, and support for early career investigators, to whom we will continue our commitment to their development with a target of at least two awards per year. The Pilot Project Program will synergize with and enhance the activities of the Community Engagement Core by earmarking at least one award per year for a community-engaged research project. We will also work with the Career Development component of the Administrative Core to identify and provide guidance to those who might benefit from pilot support. Pilot Program announcements and scientific review will also emphasize use of the Integrated Health Sciences Facilities Core, and the Environmental Health Data Sciences Core. Awardees will receive free or subsidized use of Core services during their Award. Through its function of innovating exposome research, the Pilot Project Program is central to attaining our vision of serving as an intellectual hub in the advancement and translation of exposome research to improve public health.