Pilot Grants: Opening Doors to Fellowships and Beyond
By Andy Flick, Evolutionary Studies scientific coordinator
Since its launch, the pilot grant program has supported graduate students and postdoctoral researchers across a wide range of disciplines—including biological sciences, anthropology, Earth and environmental sciences, and biomedical research. Trainees have used this support to jumpstart fieldwork, generate pilot data, and explore new research directions. Several have gone on to secure competitive fellowships and external grants, demonstrating the program’s role in advancing both individual careers and cutting-edge science. This story highlights early outcomes from our first two cohorts of trainee awardees—classes of 2021 and 2022—with more exciting results expected from later cohorts as their projects mature.
Audrey Arner (Lea Lab), the first trainee pilot grant recipient (2021), used her award to launch a dissertation project on evolutionary mismatch and health outcomes among the Semang, an Indigenous population in Malaysia experiencing rapid lifestyle changes. Her funding supported initial fieldwork, genomic and transcriptomic data collection, and community engagement efforts. That foundation helped her secure a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, a Harold Stirling Vanderbilt Fellowship, and multiple dissertation grants from the Society for the Study of Evolution, the Leakey Foundation, the Wenner-Gren Foundation, and the NSF. Arner’s trajectory illustrates how small-scale funding can lead to transformative opportunities for early-career researchers.
The class of 2022 pilot grant trainee recipients includes Samantha Schaffner, Taiye Winful, and Katie McCormack. Schaffner, a graduate student in the Patel Lab, is investigating how selfish genetic elements like toxin-antidote systems influence gamete viability in nematodes; she was later awarded an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. Winful, in the Benn Torres Lab, is exploring how stress, inflammation, and epigenetic factors interact to influence health outcomes in African-descendent populations, supported by both a Vanderbilt Dissertation Enhancement Grant and an NSF DDRIG. McCormack, also in the Benn Torres Lab, is analyzing changes in the ancient oral microbiome in relation to environmental stress and social transformation in Maya populations; she received dissertation support from Vanderbilt and the Wenner-Gren Foundation.
As the pilot grant program continues to grow, so does its impact. With each new cohort, we’re investing in the potential of emerging evolutionary scientists and empowering them to pursue ambitious, interdisciplinary research. We look forward to celebrating future fellowship wins, publications, and discoveries from the next generation of ESI trainees.