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

> **NIH NIH P30** · UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY · 2024 · $380,578

## Abstract

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 ex...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10854771
- **Project number:** 5P30ES026529-07
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY
- **Principal Investigator:** Thomas E Curry
- **Activity code:** P30 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $380,578
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-05-01 → 2028-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10854771

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10854771, Center for Appalachian Research in Environmental Sciences-Pilot Project Program (PPP) (5P30ES026529-07). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10854771. Licensed CC0.

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