NIEHS Center for Environmental Health in Northern Manhattan

Pilot Projects Program

Please stay tuned for more pilot calls in fall 2026.

Tips for a successful Pilot Application

Flowchart diagram showing review and proposal processes.

The goal of the Pilot Project Program is to provide funding, access to Core facilities and intellectual support to research proposals primarily of junior faculty within and outside the Center that are devoted to the study of environmental components of three human disease categories: Neurotoxicology/Neurodegenerative Diseases, Respiratory Disorders, and Cancer. The broad objective of research in these areas is to improve the health of communities in northern Manhattan and provide educational and outreach services that allow effective prevention strategies to be implemented. This Center Pilot Project Program also addresses issues of concern to the communities of West Harlem, Central Harlem and Washington Heights/Inwood.

Senior Center investigators and members of the Internal Advisory Committee stimulate an interest in and aid in the development of pilot project applications among appropriate colleagues, collaborators, and departments. The Pilot Project Program continues to be advertised by other "democratic" means, e.g., through the Office of Grants and Contracts Monthly Bulletin. In addition, the program is advertised by e-mail and posted throughout Columbia University and LDEO two months in advance of receipt dates.

Application Review

We have recently streamlined the scientific review process for pilot applications in order to expedite funding. The revised process includes a shorter application (3-5 pages) that undergoes a single review by both internal and external reviewers, who evaluate and score the proposal using NIH criteria. The projects are reviewed according to scientific merit and originality, use of core facilities, relevance to the Center's mission and themes, qualifications of the applicant and probability of generating future R01 funding. Based on reviewers’ scores and CEHNM priorities, final funding decisions are made by the Executive Committee within six weeks of investigator submission.

Mini Pilots

We hold an annual call for mini-pilot projects each fall. Mini-pilot applications require only a one-page description of the project and are eligible for funding requests of up to $10K. Unlike the full pilot review process described above, mini-pilot applications are reviewed by the Executive Committee, which will make a funding decision within one week of the review period. This funding mechanism was developed to address time-sensitive research questions, such as those raised in R01 critiques for a resubmission, and we expect it to continue increasing the effectiveness of our program and its impact.

Funded Projects

Descriptions of recently awarded pilot projects follow:

2026

Full Pilots

  • Developing Exposure Metrics for Microplastics and Nanoplastics.
  • Environmental Programming of Dopaminergic Mechanisms Underlying Depression.
  • Evaluating the Health and Health Care Utilization Impacts of NYC’s Heavy Heating Oil Phaseout using Linked Administrative Data.
  • Understanding Attitudes and Practices about Braiding Hair in Northern Manhattan communities.
  • Mapping Pedestrian Microplastic Exposure in Urban Soils.
  • Use of Traditional Home Remedies and Associated Health Risks in Northern Manhattan: Community Awareness and Provider Education.
  • AI-Based Structural MRI Phenotyping of Prenatal Neurotoxic Exposure.
  • Unraveling the Chronic Environmental Lithium and Uranium Co-Exposure Puzzle: Starting to Examine Brain Benefits from Neurotoxic Risks, Potential Isotopic Biomarkers and Relevance to Alzheimer’s Disease.
  • Anthony Vanky, PhD, Assistant Professor at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation.
  • Lead Reduction and Impact on the Epigenome: A New Strategy for a Global Poison.

2025

Mini Pilots

  • A Pilot Study on an Emerging Health Concern of Electronic Cigarette Use: Micro- and Nanoplastic Emissions.
  • Regulation of kinase function by manganese.
  • A mini pilot to investigate the feasibility of a community engagement study.
  • Understanding Mobility Disruptions and Inequalities During Extreme Weather Events.
  • The exposome and liver cancer.
  • Assessing Indoor Air Quality in Energy Insufficient Homes of Children with Asthma.
  • Establishing an Ex Vivo Skin Platform for Exosome-Based Biomarkers of UV Stress.
  • Validating Biomarkers of Brain-Derived Lithium and Uranium Exposures as Predictors of Neurological Health in American Indians.
  • Validation of Low-Cost Source Apportionment Methods and Assessing the Toxicity of Source-Specific Particulate Matter in New York City.
  • Analysis of THC and Cotinine Levels in VapeScan study Urine Samples.
  • Assessing Energy Insecurity Among Low-income Pregnant Women: A first-of-its-kind national survey.
  • Building heat-ready perinatal care: co-creating heat preparedness with doulas

2024

Full Pilots

  • Exposure to arsenic, fluoride, and metals and association with markers of kidney function in children in rural Guanajuato, Mexico
  • Air quality and pace of aging among older adults in the United States
  • Heat-related occupational exposure and mental and physical health among farmworkers in the United States
  • Evaluating the impact of a multi-component household intervention on individual-level exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
  • Establishing feasibility of research on early-life exposure to air pollution and development of schizophrenia in Chile
  • Electronic Cigarette Use and Male Reproductive Health.

2023

Full Pilots

  • Characterizing indoor heat stress in social housing in partnership with Heat Seek in New York City
  • Long-term effects of tropical cyclones on community social vulnerability and individual chronic health conditions in the United States: A novel quasi-experimental study
  • Residential exposure to radon and PM2.5 and adverse pregnancy outcomes: a pilot study
  • Urinary metallothionine as biomarker of effect to uranium exposure and other metals and chronic kidney diseases
  • Health Effects of Environmental Noise in a Noise-burdened Community in New York City
  • Surveying the perinatal metabolome for exposomic signals in the CCCEH Sibling-Hermanos cohort

Mini Pilots

  • Prenatal Exposure to SARS-CoV-2, Disinfectant Use, Changes in the Infant Microbiome and Neurodevelopment: A Pilot Study Protocol
  • Prenatal Placental EV OBESO Cohort
  • MEASURES: MetAllomics StUdy, Homeostasis, and BReast CancEr RiSk

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