• Applicants must be enrolled in the psychology graduate degree program
• Applicants must demonstrate progress toward the completion of their degree
• Applicants must be in good standing with the graduate program
• Applicants must apply as individuals, not as a research team
• Applicants must comply with research on human or animal subjects
• A student may only receive one award over their graduate career
• Applications may be resubmitted for future consideration once
• Incomplete and late applications will not be reviewed

The award is intended to primarily support alcohol related health disparities research but also alcohol related research, in general.  Therefore, the primary focus of the proposed research should be alcohol related.  While other drugs of abuse may be considered, the primary variable of interest is alcohol.

• The application is structured similar to an NIH proposal in order to increase familiarity with this funding agency.
• The applicant should provide a one page specific aims (single spaced, 12 point font, 1 inch margins) summarizing the project including, but not limited to, the following information (not necessarily in this order)
  • Purpose
  • Impact
  • Methods
  • Aims
• The application should provide at least a one page summary of background information (sufficient to provide a context for the proposed research), impact and innovation. In addition, the introduction should provide insight into the students’ programmatic line of research and future directions.
• The application must provide a timeline for completion of the project in an appendix (one half page, single spaced, 12 point font, 1 inch margins)
• Projects should be completed within one year but no cost extensions for one semester may be granted by the committee in cases where the project is a) in good standing and b) there is clear justification for the delay and/or continuation of the project
• The application must provide a detailed budget justification in the appendix (one half page, single spaced, 12 point font, 1 inch margins)
• At the end of one year, a summary of the research conducted, in the form of a one page abstract, must be submitted for the review committee
• More than one research project may be funded based on the availability of funds
• The committee may elect, by unanimous decision, not to fund any of the applications

• Overall Impact
• Significance
• Investigator
  • Potential contribution to the student’s programmatic line of research
  • Potential to generate future research and research directions for the student’s programmatic line of research
  • Intention to present and publish*
• Methods
  • Strategy
  • Methods
  • Analysis (including power analysis)
• Environment
  • Evidence of existing support for project (i.e., necessary equipment not covered by award) in the department and/or lab of the primary mentor
  • One page letter of support (single spaced, 12 point font, 1 inch margins)

• While the project is sponsored by the Latino Alcohol and Health Disparities Research, the award is not selected by key personnel associated with the Center including the Center Director
• Applications will undergo preliminary review for adherence to instructions (page limits, formatting and sections listed above). Any application not adhering to the instructions contained herein will not be reviewed and will not receive feedback from the review committee
• The review is based primarily on scientific merit, scholarship or grantsmanship, feasibility and contribution to the student’s overall research and career development
• The research award is not based on need or progress in the graduate program
• Applications will be reviewed by at least three senior faculty and two external reviewers
• Each committee member will provide an overall impact score after review of all comments made by reviewers of that application
• While overall impact score will be based on a review and scoring of each of the application’s component, it is not an average of those scores (per NIH standard practice)
• Selection will be based on the ranking of all applications on overall impact
• Depending on the quality of applications, the committee may decide, based on unanimous decision, not to make an award during any given review cycle
• Summary sheets of reviewer comments (not scores) will be provided to all applicants

• While the project is sponsored by the Latino Alcohol and Health Disparities Research, the award is not selected by key personnel associated with the Center including the Center Director
• Each application will be reviewed by at least two primary reviewers
• An application’s designated primary reviewers will, in turn, read the other primary reviewer(s)’ comments and make any adjustments to their review that they deem necessary
• The primary reviewers will score each of the sections above and provide an overall impact score
• Assigned reviewers will finalize their summary statements
• All committee members will review the summary statements of the primary reviewers
• Committee members will be provided an oral summary of the project and reviewer’s comments by the primary reviewer and, subsequently, deliberate summary statements and
• Committee members will provide an overall impact score
• The overall impact score of all committee members will be averaged
• The application with the lowest average will be considered for funding
• The committee may elect, by unanimous decision, not to fund any of the applications
• More than one research project may be funded based on the availability of funds

The application for the Fall 2019 award is due June 15^th.  All applications should be sent to LAHDR@utep.edu.  Funding will be provided once evidence of human subjects or animal protections is provided.   

Grant applications for projects in process but awaiting approval of institutional review will be considered. However, funds will not be released to support projects awaiting human or animal subjects review.  Prior to distribution of the award, the awardee must provide evidence of final approval to LAHDR@utep.edu as soon as possible following receipt of the award.

All presentations and publications derived from the award must acknowledge funding by the Latino Alcohol and Health Disparities Research and Training Center.  In the application, applicants should identify a conference at which to pursue presentation and a target journal for publication based on consultation with their primary mentor. 

Raul Caetano, MD, PhD is a psychiatrist and epidemiologist who has worked in public health for about 35 years. A native of Brazil, Dr. Caetano's MD is from the School of Medical Sciences, State University of Rio de Janeiro. His MPH (behavioral sciences) and his PhD (epidemiology) are from the University of California at Berkeley. He was Dean of the Southwestern School of Health Professions at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center from 2006 to 2014, and Regional Dean and Professor of Epidemiology, Dallas Regional Campus, University of Texas School of Public Health from 1998 to 2014. He has been a Senior Research Scientist at the Prevention Research Center of PIRE since January 2015. Dr. Caetano has written extensively about alcohol problems among U.S. ethnic minorities, about psychiatric diagnosis of alcohol dependence, and about the association between drinking and intimate partner violence. He has more than 250 papers published in the peer reviewed literature.  He has received numerous awards in recognition for his research. In 1994 he was elected Fellow of the American College of Epidemiology, and in 1999 he received a MERIT award from the NIH. More recently, in 2013, he received a Senior Investigator National Research Award, from the National Hispanic Science Network. In 2014 he received the University of Texas Houston Health Science Center President's Research Scholar Award. In 2015 he was the recipient of the Betty Ford Award from the Association for Medical Education and Research in Substance Abuse (AMERSA).  In 2016 he received a Life Time Achievement award from the Research Society on Alcoholism.

“You are the face of the next generation of minority scholars and health disparities researchers!”