Purpose of Program An important aspect of the CREED has been the implementation and administration of a highly successful Pilot Project Program. The original goals of the CRED Pilot Project Program were to use seed money to provide support i) to new investigators who show promise in becoming valuable assets to the Center, ii) to established Center investigators for exploratory projects of a highly innovative nature that are likely to attract new outside funding, and Hi) to established non-Center investigators who desire to apply their specialized talents to environmental health research within the context of the Center's overall program. All of these goals have again been met through the Pilot Projects that have been awarded during the current funding period. The availability of the Facility Cores has proven to be a particular advantage for Pilot Project awardees who are Associate or non-members by enhancing the availability of resources over and above the actual funding provided by the Pilot Project award. In addition, as described in Section XVII.C. below, the Pilot Project Program again has been very successful in leveraging Center grant dollars for extramural funding. Dr. Jim Kehrer (former CRED Associate Director) had responsibility for coordinating the Pilot Project Program through the Administrative Core. Announcements have been made annually detailing the Pilot Project Program. These notices are sent to all Center Members as well as to other faculty and departments on all campuses. Information has also been disseminated by individual Center members to other collaborators resulting in the involvement of some non-Center investigators via this mechanism. Particular emphasis has been placed on identifying new junior Faculty with research interests related to the CRED, and specifically inviting them to apply for Pilot Project funding. Instructions for preparing an application have been sent to all interested investigators. For practical reasons relating to other grant deadlines, the receipt deadline for pilot projects was set at April 1 each year. Projected funding has been June 1, with actual funding occurring in most cases by July 1. Individual grants have been made at the level of $25,000 for a period of one year. Unspent Pilot Project funds have been extended beyond one year, but no pilot grant has been extended with additional funding. Copies of all proposals received, written comments submitted by reviewers, and detailed records of final recommendations are kept in the Center Director's office