2025 BHI-CAHBIR Trainee: RU-NB Faculty Collaborative Pilot Grant Program
The Rutgers Brain Health Institute (BHI) and the Center for Advanced Human Brain Imaging Research (CAHBIR) are pleased to announce the availability of $35,000 Trainee-RU-NB Faculty Collaborative Pilot Research grants to fund neuroimaging research by RU-New Brunswick graduate students and post-doctoral fellows and their faculty mentors at CAHBIR. The pilot grant award allows partial support for trainee salary and fringe.
Eligibility: Graduate students receiving funds must either be in a doctoral program in an RU-NB department OR be in the lab of an RU-NB faculty member. Post-doctoral fellows must be in a lab of an RU-NB faculty member to be eligible. Funding is provided by the RU-NB chancellor’s office, leading to the focus on RU-NB graduate students and labs.
Number of grants available: Up to 4 awards are available.
Letter of Intent: A letter of intent is required by September 21st, 2025.
Invited Application Submission deadline: Applications are due by October 20th, 2025. Awards will be announced by Nov. 21st, 2025.
Objective: There are fiscal barriers to initiating neuroimaging research as a trainee. The Trainee-RU-NB Faculty Collaborative Pilot grants are aimed at aiding trainees in developing research projects that make use of CAHBIR facilities. They also aim to assist in the development of the skills necessary to successfully executing the MRI research. An additional goal of these grants is to provide preliminary data for the trainee and/or sponsor to use when pursuing external fellowship or research grants.
In addition to providing funds for pilot neuroimaging studies, the grants aim to provide training in study design, execution and analysis. A core piece of this training is a 10-hr workshop aimed at familiarizing researchers with MRI scanning, design and analyses. Funds from the grant can be used to also pay hourly fees for consultation and assistance with image analyses.
Human Brain Imaging Core facility capabilities: A state-of-the-art research-dedicated 3T Siemens Prisma scanner with 64 and 20 channel head/neck coils, MRI-compatible visual/auditory stimulation and behavior/physiological response equipment including eye tracking, mock scanner and a contrast agent injector. The core facility also provides expert technical support to users with all levels of experience. More information about CAHBIR is available at https://sites.rutgers.edu/cahbir/. CAHBIR also provides the ability to collect EEG data and perform rTMS within CAHBIR lab space in the RWJMS Staged Research Building, and investigators may include use of these systems as part of their research proposals.
Questions: Questions about the proposals should be directed to david.zald@rutgers.edu
Each month, we distribute a curated selection of federal (NIH) and non-federal (private and nonprofit) funding opportunities relevant to neuroscience, brain health, and mental health research.
