Grant Funding

Genentech Research Award Program

The Genentech Research Award program is for early and mid-career researchers who bring diversity to the Biomedical Engineering Profession.

Goals: The Genentech Research Award program (GRAP) aims to address racial disparities in NIH R01 grant funding and empowers Underrepresented Minority (URM) faculty.

The GRAP program will provide research funding for early and mid-career researchers who bring diversity to Biomedical Engineering. These are one-year awards intended to offset racial disparity in NIH funding, which will ease the substantive burden on URM faculty and facilitate follow-on funding from NIH or other entities. The maximum cost per award will be ~$50,000 for one year. The projects can be on any Biomedical Engineering topic traditionally funded by NIH. These awards will cover direct costs only, with Universities expected to cover any associated indirect costs.

Application Process

Deadline: May 1, 2021

Applicants for Genentech Research Awards should submit the following information as a single, compiled pdf via email to Kelly Raickovich (raick@umich.edu) at the University of Michigan.

1. One-page cover page with the following information. This cover page should be in Arial 11pt font, 0.5-inch margins:
   • Name, Title, Institution, Affiliation
   • Short needs statement. The applicant should write a short needs statement. We recognize that issues of racial equity and disparity are exacerbated by other diverse challenges, such as those posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, pending “grant cliffs” by the PI, and various other intersectional reasons (150 words maximum).
   • A short statement of the PI’s commitment to DEI, and/or “lived experiences.” The applicant should write no more than 150 words statement on their commitment to improving diversity, equity, and inclusion in STEM, and/or their personal and unique “lived experiences” or perspectives that facilitate an understanding of challenges associated with achieving diversity, equity, and inclusion in STEM.
   • Funds requested. Amount of funds requested, as well as a short (150 words maximum) plan for how the funds will be used to address issues raised by reviewers in the submitted summary statement. The maximum amount per award is $50,000.
2. Compiled pdf of submitted NIH R01 (or R01 level) grant application that was not chosen for funding by NIH.
3. NIH summary statement for the unfunded grant application.

Grant review, selection, and feedback to applicants

• May 2021: First program review panel held
• June-July 2021: First awards disseminated

Award selection. Award selection will be made by a volunteer BME faculty committee recruited from our network of BME faculty. Selection will be weighted based on the diversity and needs statements, the grant application, and the summary statement.

Faculty mentorship matching. Genentech Research Award recipients will be matched with a volunteer senior BME faculty member from our network who will serve as a mentor and “grant reader” for the awardee in the two years following the grant award.

Project Team Leadership

Lola Eniola-Adefeso, Ph.D. (Co-Principal Investigator)

University Diversity and Social Transformation Professor of Chemical Engineering

Department of Chemical Engineering

Department of Biomedical Engineering

Department of Macromolecular Science and Engineering

University of Michigan

Kelly R. Stevens, Ph.D. (Co-Principal Investigator)

Assistant Professor

Department of Bioengineering

Department of Laboratory Medicine & Pathology

University of Washington