Pilot Project Program
Request for Proposals for Early State Investigator Mentoring Program and Pilot Funding for Research on Aging in Sexual Minority Populations
Proposal Submission Deadline: January 31, 2026
Project Start Date: September 1, 2026
We invite investigators to submit proposals for pilot funding to support research projects focused on aging sexual minority (SM) populations. These pilot research projects would be funded for the period from September 1, 2026 through August 31, 2027. Pilot projects may be funded up to $40,000 in direct costs. Guidelines for the proposal format are indicated below.
Pilot project awardees will be enrolled in a two-year program in which they will be assigned a senior grant-funded mentor to advise them through the process of conducting the pilot study and submitting an larger proposal to the NIA. Enrollees will benefit from an intensive summer grant writing workshop and networking opportunities across campus and nationally.
Eligible candidates: Investigators who are either submitting their first K or R application, or are based at institutions or in states with historically low NIH funding levels.
Questions may be addressed to: Debra Umberson at caps@utexas.edu
Submit proposals to: Debra Umberson at caps@utexas.edu
Subject: Attn: Pilot Project Proposal
Pilot Project Goals
We seek cutting-edge research to illuminate how biological, psychosocial, and environmental factors intersect throughout the life course to generate disparities in health and well-being at older ages in sexual minority populations.
Proposals will be given priority that address:
- Biosocial Processes. Network Core activities examine the impact of social factors and contexts distinct to SM populations as they intersect with genomic, epigenetic, and biological factors that shape mental, physical, and cognitive health trajectories in aging SM populations.
- Family and Social Engagement. Network Core activities examine how family, relationships, social engagement, caregiving, and living arrangements uniquely influence the experience and pace of aging among SM populations.
- Socioeconomic and Institutional Contexts. Network Core activities examine how socioeconomic and institutional contexts (e.g., schools, neighborhoods, workplaces, geopolitical contexts) throughout life confer unique risks or advantages for the health and well-being of aging SM populations.
Pilot projects should be designed to support the development of a larger research project that will be submitted under an NIA grant mechanism (K01, R03, R01, R21). Pilot projects are not intended to support work to complete a study or as an addendum to an existing project. NIA considers the success rate of grants submitted from the pilot projects when making decisions about funding future CAPS pilot projects.
Budget
Pilot projects may be funded up to $40,000 in direct costs. Pilot project budgets may be used to cover expenses related to the proposed study within guidelines for federally allowable expenses, including summer salary.
Indirect costs should be included using your institution’s federally negotiated rate. In special circumstances, larger budgets will be considered. To prepare a budget for the application, please contact caps@utexas.edu.
Project time periods are 2 years: 1 year to complete the pilot project and 1 year to submit a grant application. All pilot project work must be accomplished during this 2-year period. An external grant from the pilot project must be submitted within two years of the award. Again, this is an important metric in reporting to NIA on the success of our pilot program.
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Current Pilot Project Awards 2025-2026
Marital Stress and Alcohol Use among Same- and Different-Sex Couples
Amanda Pollitt, Assistant Professor, Department of Health Sciences, Northern Arizona University
Sexual and gender minorities are three times more likely than heterosexuals to consume alcohol and are more likely to drink heavily, which contributes to health disadvantages for sexual minority older adults. Marital strain is strongly associated with alcohol use across the lifespan, and alcohol can adversely affect health and cognition. Since marriage has only recently been widely available to same-sex couples, little is known about how marital stress and alcohol use unfold in tandem for same-sex couples or how this compares to different-sex couples. Approach: Data from the Health and Relationships Project, which includes three waves of dyadic daily data, will be used to examine how marital stress from one spouse influences the other spouse’s alcohol use on a day-to-day basis among same- and different-sex couples and how these daily dynamics change over a 10-year period in mid- to later adulthood.
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State Legislation and Policies and Cognitive Decline
Lawrence Stacey, Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, Vanderbilt University
This project will examine how a wide range of anti- and protective-LGBT state legislation and state policies are associated with cognitive decline in the United States. Using data from the Human Rights Campaign and Movement Advancement Project to track the evolution of LGBT legislation and policies at the state level and data from the CDC’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), I will investigate how such policies are associated with confusion or memory loss, day-to-day activities, and needed assistance in midlife and later life for a probability-based sample of Americans, and whether such associations vary for LGBT and non-LGBT populations.
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