Schweppe Foundation/Armour Endowments

Upon its dissolution in 2011, the Schweppe Foundation established an endowment at Rush to support early career investigators with research pilot awards via internal competition. Rush’s Trustees later designated a portion of an Armour family estate gift to be paired with Schweppe as internal matching funds.

Funding amounts and availability

• This pilot funding program awards up to two grants annually of up to $50,000 each. The period of support is 1 year.
• Faculty salary support is not allowed.
• No Cost Extensions (NCE) will not be allowed.

Eligible investigators

• Applicants must be early career investigators.
• The principal investigator of the proposal must hold an active faculty appointment at Rush University at the rank of assistant professor or higher.
• There are no citizenship or residency requirements.

Criteria

• Proposals must be for patient-oriented clinical, health services, or community health-focused research. Interdisciplinary proposals are encouraged.
• Applicants may submit only one application as a principal investigator/multiple PI per award cycle. 

How to apply

Submit your proposal using the online application form. The submission link will be emailed to PIs who submit an RSVP.

Your proposal should consist of 1 PDF file:

• A cover page, containing the following:
  • Grant proposal title
  • MPIs names, highest degree, position title, department/division, phone number, and email
  • Funding amount requesting
  • A statement of whether the proposal research overlaps in whole or part with any ongoing efforts or any submitted proposals
  • Conflict of Interest list for multiple PIs: Please list current RUSH collaborators with whom you have published or written grants in the past three years (no more than 1 page)
• Budget in NIH PHS398 forms
  • Allowable: Fringe benefits 22%, Rush non-faculty/student salary support, and publication costs
  • Not allowable: Faculty salary support, indirect costs, or capital expenses.
• Biographical sketches in current NIH format for MPIs only
• Body of application 
  • Formatting: 11-point Arial font with at least 1/2-inch margins
  • Project summary/abstract in layman’s terms (1 page)
  • Specific aims (1 page)
  • Research Strategy
    • Significance, innovation, and approach (6 pages)
    • Plan for Future Funding (1 page)
  • Literature Cited (no limit)
  • A form for the Department Chair/Division to acknowledge support of the application will be sent to the PI upon complete submission of the application. 

Review Process

• A panel of non-competing researchers will review applications based on the new NIH simplified peer review framework.
• Applications that demonstrate potential for future funding will be prioritized.

Award Timeline

• Internal decision anticipated by December 2025.
• Anticipated funding period: February 1, 2026 to January 31, 2027.