Date:           November 24, 2025

To:               Faculty, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

From:          Troy Roepke, PhD, Pilot Project Program Director

                     Andrew Gow, PhD, Pilot Project Program Co-Director

                     Robert Laumbach, MD, MPH, Community Pilot Program Director

Subject:       Request for Proposals for 2026-27 CEED Pilot Grants

The NIEHS Center for Environmental Exposures and Disease (CEED), in collaboration with the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute (EOHSI), is soliciting applications for its 2026-2027 Pilot Project Program.  Pilot funding supports new environmental health research with the potential to improve human health and establish or strengthen community partnerships. CEED is funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS, P30ES005022).

All proposals must include a CEED member. For postdoc-initiated and community partnership applications, a CEED member must be a Co-PI. For proposals from faculty, the CEED member can be PI, co-PI, or co-investigator. This is necessary due to University and Federal regulations regarding transfer of award funds and for formal University Human Subjects (IRB) approval.  Restriction: No foreign component of the proposed research will be allowed this cycle.

View/Download Application Guidelines and Procedures

Review Process

Review of the Pilot Grant proposals will take place in February/March 2026. The Directors of the Pilot Project Program will first review all applications to confirm that the application meets the basic criteria and will remove from review applications that do not meet the basic criteria. The CEED Director may be available to assist in fine-tuning applications at their discretion.  All eligible applications will be sent out for review by internal and external reviewers.

Awards and Reporting

Successful applicants will be sent award letters, including instructions regarding expenditure of funds, by April 1, 2026.  All funds must be spent by March 31, 2027.  By 12-18 months post-funding, funded applicants will be required to give an oral presentation of the project outcome at a NIEHS Center members’ meeting and provide evidence of grant submission. With strong justification (such as the need for IRB approval), pilot application budgets can be split over two continuous years. Please reach out to the Pilot Project Program Directors before submitting your application if you would like to propose a 2-year timeline.

Submission

All applications must be uploaded to https://form.jotform.com/243245731945157 by January 15, 2026. All documents should be merged into a single pdf for the upload. Community Partnership Applications should be submitted by February 1, 2026.

Questions

If you have any questions, please contact:

Kristin Borbely

NIEHS Center Administrator

Phone: (848) 445-0170

E-mail:  borbely@eohsi.rutgers.edu, Website: http://ceed.rutgers.edu/pilot-project-program/