The Mentored Quantitative Research Career Development Award (K25) supports the career development of quantitatively trained investigators who make a commitment to basic or clinical biomedicine, bioengineering, bioimaging, or behavioral research that is relevant to the NIH mission. The award provides support for a period of supervised study and research for productive professionals with quantitative backgrounds who have the potential to integrate their expertise with NIH-relevant research and develop into productive investigators. The K25 program is intended for research-oriented investigators from the postdoctoral level to the senior faculty level.
The specific objectives of the Mentored Quantitative Research Career Development Award are to:
- Encourage research-oriented quantitative scientists and engineers with little or no experience in biomedicine, bioengineering, bioimaging, or behavioral research to gain fundamental knowledge in these areas and develop relevant research skills; gain experience in current concepts, advanced methods, and experimental approaches that will allow them to conduct basic or clinical biomedical, behavioral, bioimaging, or bioengineering research; and become independent investigators or play leading roles in multidisciplinary research teams.
- Increase the pool of quantitative researchers who can conduct biomedical, behavioral, or bioengineering studies, capitalizing on the quantitative backgrounds of these investigators to inform new directions in biomedical, behavioral, and bioengineering research.
- Provide a unique opportunity for candidates holding degrees in quantitative science or engineering to embark on 3 to 5 years of special study, including coursework, seminars, meetings, and mentored research, to achieve the career enhancement goals outlined above.
Organizations with any of the following characteristics may submit applications on behalf of candidates: for-profit organizations; non-profit organizations; public or private institutions, such as universities, colleges, hospitals, and laboratories; and domestic institutions. Foreign institutions are not eligible to apply.
Candidates must have an advanced degree in a quantitative area of science or engineering (M.S.E.E., Ph.D., D.Sc., etc.) and have demonstrated research interests in their primary quantitative discipline. They must identify a mentor with extensive behavioral, biomedical, bioengineering, or bioimaging research experience. Candidates must commit at least 75 percent of their effort to research and research career development and the remainder of their effort to other career development activities consistent with the overall purpose of the award.
The K25 project period may be for up to 5 years, with a minimum of 3 years required. Awards are not renewable and are not transferable from one principal investigator to another.
NIGMS will provide up to $75,000 per year in salary and up to $40,000 per year in research development support for the career award recipient. The total salary requested must be based on a full-time, 12-month staff appointment. The salary must be consistent both with the established salary structure at the institution and salaries actually provided by the institution from its own funds to other staff members of equivalent qualifications, rank, and responsibilities in the department concerned. Fringe benefits, based on the sponsoring institution’s rate and the percent of effort, will be provided in addition to the salary.
NIGMS limits the K25 award to individuals with little or no biological research experience or training who hold independent positions in physics, mathematics, statistics, computer science, or engineering equivalent to a tenure-track faculty position. Awards at the postdoctoral level may be made for especially talented individuals with doctoral degrees in physics, mathematics, statistics, computer science, or engineering who wish to enter the field of systems biology. Individuals who are interested in postdoctoral positions and do not fit these criteria are encouraged to apply for a Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award individual postdoctoral fellowship (see http://www.nigms.nih.gov/Training/IndivPostdoc/).
Effective for all new competing research project grant applications, mentored career award recipients in the last 2 years of career award support may reduce effort on the career award to a minimum of 50 percent and hold concurrent support from their career award and a competing NIH research grant if they are recognized as a principal investigator or subproject director on the research project grant. This policy can be found at http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-04-007.html.
For more information about this award, see the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts, December 11, 2008 (PA-09-039), read the FAQs document, or contact Dr. Karin Remington at 301-451-6446.
