Pilot Projects

REQUEST FOR APPLICATIONS (2025)

Applications can span more than 1 critical area, but are required to examine how race, ethnicity, gender, and/or geography shape the proposed relationships. We invite applications from new, emerging, and established dementia researchers. Interdisciplinary projects that include a dementia clinician and social scientist MPI team and encouraged, but not required.

Format of Proposals

Please include the following in your application:

• Cover page with title and principal investigator’s name that includes a project summary clarifying the significance of the research
• NIH biosketch for all key personnel
• PHS 398 budget page and budget justification. If project is longer than 1 year in duration, use PHS 398 budget page for entire project period.
• Indicate whether there is a foreign component to the pilot project. If yes, provide details on the foreign site/institution, the foreign collaborator, the budget for the foreign site, and the research objectives at the foreign site. Note, subawards cannot be funded by this RFP and would need to be supported by others means.
• 3-page proposal covering specific aims, significance, innovation, and research design/methods.

Proposals using human subjects will need institutional IRB approval before funding is awarded.

Important: When calculating total requested budget, indirect costs (IDC) amount is part of the total budget and should be included on the budget form on the line that says “Consortium/Contractual Costs – Facilities and Administrative Costs.”

Investigators may request total (direct + indirect) costs of up to $40,000, using an IDC rate of 8% of modified total direct costs, as stipulated by NIA. Funds can be used for research assistance, salaries, travel, data acquisition, etc. When developing your budget, please include costs for 1 trip to present your work at the Gerontological Association of America (GSA). Principal Investigators must hold a PhD. We expect to make 4 awards.

Pilot grants will be issued as a subcontract through the PI’s home institution, with additional documents required before funds can be awarded as outlined in the Timetable section below.

Additional Requirements

• Subcontracts are not allowed.
• PIs must be affiliated with a U.S. university.

Submission Instructions

Please submit proposals as a single PDF file by February 21, 2025 at 5 pm to Jennifer Doiron at [email protected].

Timetable

• February 21, 2025: Proposals due to Jennifer Doiron at [email protected]
• Week of March 4: Notification of decisions and request for additional documents, including a Subrecipient commitment form, completed NIH Face Page (Form Page 1), and IRB approval from the PI’s university’s IRB review board. These documents must be submitted by the PI’s office of sponsored research and be signed by an institutional official before an award can be made.
• May 15, 2025: Estimated earliest start date after receipt of IRB approval.

Duration of Pilot Projects: Until April 30, 2026. Projects may request a 2-year duration, ending April 30, 2027; however, pilot funding for May 1, 2026 – April 30, 2027 is contingent on NIA’s continued funding of the Network. For 2-year projects, we will not be granting an extension after the 2-year period.

Selection Criteria

Proposals will be evaluated for:

• The quality of the proposed research
• Likelihood of advancing science in 1 of the 3 critical areas that are central to the Network’s aims;
• Likelihood that proposed work will result in NIA funding (e.g. K99/R00, K01/02/08/25, R03, R21, R01) within 2 years;
• Likelihood the research will yield important publications that advance our understanding of education and dementia.

New-to-the-field, early career, and underrepresented investigators are especially encouraged to apply.

Expected Outcomes

PIs are required to:

• Present results from their pilot projects in a spring 2026 virtual webinar;
• Participate in a GSA symposium (if accepted) in November 2026;
• Participate in grant mentoring offered by the EdDem Network to enhance their competitiveness for external funding;
• Submit a written report upon completion of the project.

All publications, grant proposals, and grant funding stemming from the pilot project must be reported to the Network. All research resulting from the pilot grant must credit NIA grant R24AG077433 and must be submitted to PubMed Central.

Scientific Questions? Please contact:

Sanjay Asthana, University of Wisconsin ([email protected])

Pamela Herd, University of Michigan ([email protected])

Katrina Walsemann, University of Maryland ([email protected])

Administrative and Budget questions? Please contact:

Jennifer Doiron ([email protected])

Year 3 Pilot Projects

PI: Rin Reczek, Ohio State University
“Childbearing Biographies, Education, and Mid- and Later-Life Women’s Pathways into AD/ADRD Risk”

PI: Eric Klopack, University of Southern California
“How Does Sex/Gender Affect the Biological Mechanisms Linking Education and Dementia?”

PI: Rachel Donnelly, Vanderbilt University
“How State Safety Nets in Early Life Shape Educational Attainment and ADRD Risk for Black and White Older Adults”

PI: Cleothia Frazier, Pennsylvania State University
“Early Life Stress and Cognition: Educational and Gender Differences among Older Black Americans”

Year 2 Pilot Projects

PI: Qiuchang Cao, Florida State University
“Education, Work Complexity, and Cognitive Decline in Later Life by Race/Ethnicity”

PI: Nicole Hair, University of South Carolina
“Childhood Health and Later-Life Cognitive Functioning: Evaluating the Mediating Role of Education”

PI: Mateo Farina, University of Texas, Austin
“Biosocial Mechanisms that Link Early Life Socioeconomic Conditions, Early Life Health, and Educational Attainment to Later Life Cognitive Aging”

MPIs: Vikesh Amin, Central Michigan University; Hans-Peter Kohler, University of Pennsylvania; Shana Stites, University of Pennsylvania
“Schooling, Cognition, and Global Dementia Risk: A Pilot Study”

Year 1 Pilot Projects

PI: Catherine Garcia, Syracuse University
“Intersectional and Biosocial Approaches to Understanding Cognitive Function among Older Latinos”

PI: Sara Moorman, Boston College
“High School STEM and Language Courses and Cognitive Advantage in Later Life”