NIH AREA Impact Statement
Guidance from the NIH AREA guidelines (PA 12-006)
…Only those applications deemed to have the highest scientific and technical merit, generally the top half of
applications under review, will be discussed and assigned an impact/priority score…
Reviewers provide an overall impact/priority score to reflect their assessment of the likelihood for the project to
exert a sustained, powerful influence on the research field(s) involved, in light of the following five scored review
criteria, and additional review criteria (as applicable for the project proposed).
Significance. Does the project address an important problem or a barrier to progress in the field? If the aims of the
project are achieved, how will scientific knowledge, technical capability, and/or clinical practice be improved? How
will successful completion of the aims change the concepts, methods, technologies, treatments, services, or
preventative interventions that drive this field? If funded, will the AREA award have a substantial effect on the
school/academic component in terms of strengthening the research environment and exposing students to
research?
Investigator(s). Are the PD(s)/PI(s), collaborators, and other researchers well suited to the project? If Early Stage
Investigators or New Investigators, or in the early stages of independent careers, do they have appropriate
experience and training? If established, have they demonstrated an ongoing record of accomplishments that have
advanced their field(s)? If the project is collaborative or multi-PD(s)/PI(s), do the investigators have
complementary and integrated expertise; are their leadership approach, governance and organizational structure
appropriate for the project? Do the PD(s)/PI(s) have suitable experience in supervising students in research?
Innovation. Does the application challenge and seek to shift current research or clinical practice paradigms by
utilizing novel theoretical concepts, approaches or methodologies, instrumentation, or interventions? Are the
concepts, approaches or methodologies, instrumentation, or interventions novel to one field of research or novel
in a broad sense? Is a refinement, improvement, or new application of theoretical concepts, approaches or
methodologies, instrumentation, or interventions proposed?
Approach. Are the overall strategy, methodology, and analyses well-reasoned and appropriate to accomplish the
specific aims of the project? Are potential problems, alternative strategies, and benchmarks for success presented?
If the project is in the early stages of development, will the strategy establish feasibility and will particularly risky
aspects be managed?
If the project involves clinical research, are the plans for 1) protection of human subjects from research risks, and
2) inclusion of minorities and members of both sexes/genders, as well as the inclusion of children, justified in
terms of the scientific goals and research strategy proposed?
Does the application provide sufficient evidence that the project can stimulate the interests of students so that
they consider a career in the biomedical or behavioral sciences?
Environment. Are the institutional support, equipment and other physical resources available to the investigators
adequate for the project proposed? Does the application demonstrate the likely availability of well-qualified
students to participate in the research project? Does the application provide sufficient evidence that students have
in the past or are likely to pursue careers in the biomedical or behavioral sciences?
Updated April 22, 2013 APD
The Impact Statement is part of the Facilities & Other Resources section of the SF424 Research and
Related (R&R) Other Project Information form. Its purpose is to explain how the College’s unique
scientific environment will contribute to the project’s probability of success.
1. Identify the Facilities to be used (laboratory, clinical, animal, computer, office, other). If
appropriate, indicate their capacities, pertinent capabilities, relative proximity and extent of
availability to the project. Describe only those resources that directly apply to the proposed
work.
2. Describe any Other Resources available (e.g., machine shop, electronic shop) and the extent to
which they would be available to the project.

Early Stage Investigators: Describe institutional investment in your success, e.g., resources
for classes, travel, training; collegial support such as career enrichment programs, assistance
and guidance in supervising trainees involved with the project, and availability of organized
peer groups; logistical support such as administrative management and oversight or bestpractices training; and financial support such as protected time for research with salary
support.

If the project will be done at multiple sites, describe the resources available at each site.

Describe any special facilities used for working with biohazards or other potentially
dangerous substances. (Note: Information about Select Agents must be described in the
Research Plan.)

Supply a profile of Middlebury students that includes an estimate of the number who have
obtained a baccalaureate degree and gone on to obtain an academic or professional
doctoral degree in the health-related sciences during the last five years. *

Describe Middlebury’s special characteristics that make it appropriate for an AREA grant,
given that the goals of the AREA program are to:
o support meritorious research
o strengthen the research environment of schools that have not been major
recipients
of NIH support
o expose undergraduates to research

Describe the likely impact of an AREA grant on you and on the College’s research
environment.

For any proposed research sites other than Middlebury, provide a brief description of the
resources. (Although NIH expects that you will direct most of the research at Middlebury,
they permit limited use of special facilities or equipment at another institution.
Collaborations with other investigators are also permitted if complementary expertise is
required to accomplish the proposed Specific Aims.)

If relevant, state any institutional support for the proposed research project (e.g.,
equipment, laboratory space, release time, matching funds, etc.).
* The attached example contains Middlebury’s current institutional data, including this number.
Updated April 22, 2013 APD
Facilities
Laboratory
All research activities will be carried out in the relatively new (2000) McCardell Bicentennial Hall,
the science facility on campus. The PI has a xxx sq. ft. laboratory dedicated solely to his/her research
program. The laboratory can comfortably accommodate four or five undergraduate researchers. The lab
has xxx sq. ft. of usable bench space, x large sinks, and access to distilled water, nitrogen, vacuum, and
gas. A large (xxxx sq. ft) teaching laboratory across the hall provides additional working bench space
during the summer and Winter-term periods.
Clinical
N/A
Animal
The Middlebury College Animal Facility (6330 sq. ft. total) in McCardell Bicentennial Hall is
within easy access of the PI’s laboratory. Animal research is overseen by the College’s Institutional
Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) in compliance with applicable provisions of the Animal Welfare
Act and other federal statutes and regulations that apply to lab animals. Middlebury College pays all
animal-care costs, which demonstrates Middlebury’s strong support for animal research. The animal
facility meets or exceeds NIH guidelines. The facility has cage-washing equipment and all the necessary
cages, racks, and other housing supplies. All colony rooms are temperature-, humidity-, and lightcontrolled and are monitored by the animal facility staff and the IACUC. The facility employs a full-time
facility manager and three part-time animal care technicians. [describe any other aspects of the facility
that will be used for the proposed project]
Computer
The PI has a [make/model] computer supplied by the college. The PI's students have access to a new
[make/model] (attached to [instrument]) in the PI's laboratory and to a computer lab containing x Dell
[make/model] (containing [type, version] software) located on the fifth floor of McCardell Bicentennial
Hall. A [make] computer attached to the [instrument] has the capability of handling all [type] analyses.
Office
The office of the PI (McCardell Bicentennial Hall, Room xxx) is adjacent to the lab.
Updated April 22, 2013 APD
Other Resources
Profile of the students of Middlebury College
Middlebury College is a rigorous four-year liberal arts college, founded in 1800 in Middlebury, Vermont.
The College has an enrollment of roughly 2,450 students from 55 U.S. states and territories and 68
foreign countries. Middlebury was the first college in the US to graduate an African-American and has
been coeducational for more than a century. This longstanding tradition of diversity continued with the
2012-2013 freshman class, which included 9% international students and 19% domestic students of
color.
Each year more than a quarter of Middlebury students (27% in 2013) who declare a major choose one in
the natural sciences, mathematics, computer science, or neuroscience. Over the past five years (20082013), at least 174 Middlebury graduates have received an academic or professional doctoral degree
in the health-related sciences. This proposal focuses on students majoring in Chemistry and
Biochemistry, a select highly performing group.
Special characteristics of Middlebury College that make it appropriate for an AREA award
Enthusiasm and drive in the sciences is shared among students and faculty alike: in the past five years,
faculty-driven initiatives won the College funding from the National Science Foundation to build a new
research vessel and equip it with sub-bottom profiling and water sampling equipment, and (despite lack
of either an architecture or an engineering curriculum) Middlebury students won fourth place in the
Department of Energy’s 2011 Solar Decathlon and were selected to compete again in the 2013
competition.
Middlebury’s Department of [yours] has x full-time, tenured or tenure-track faculty and x full-time
associates in science instruction. The department offers [society/accrediting body]-accredited degrees in
[degrees awarded]. A senior research thesis is required for departmental honors and many of our
majors avail themselves of this opportunity. Most students who plan to do a senior thesis remain on
campus for the summer after their sophomore or junior year to begin their research, with [range]
students participating each summer. About x% of our departmental majors go on to graduate programs,
and x% go on to medical school or other health-care programs. Recent graduates have pursued graduate
degrees at [list most prestigious grad schools].
Our faculty have active research programs in [research specialties]. This strong research program is
supported by the College and is incorporated into the major. The summer research program is largely
supported through external funding from sponsors such as the National Institutes of Health and the
National Science Foundation. Since the summer of 2007, [your] Department has averaged x students
working in different research groups each summer.
Middlebury faculty have been very successful in securing external support for their research efforts.
Since 1988, faculty members at Middlebury have received 22 NIH-AREA grants, making Middlebury a
leader among our peer institutions. In the past # years, [your] Department has secured $#. Since 1989,
we have also received two grants totaling in excess of 1 million dollars from the Howard Hughes Medical
Institute to enhance undergraduate sciences programs in the biomedical fields. In 2011, the College
Updated April 22, 2013 APD
received its second three-year Beckman Scholars Program grant to support undergraduate research in
chemistry, biochemistry, or medical science, and it has recently been invited to submit a proposal for
the 2013 competition. [mention any successful grant proposals you have had a hand in] The Vermont
Genetics Network, an NIH BRIN/INBRE program, has supplied summer research stipends and supply
budgets for Middlebury College faculty and undergraduates since 2002.
During his/her x years of academic service, the PI has demonstrated a strong commitment to mentoring
undergraduate research students, with a total of x students participating in research projects in his/her
laboratory. x of these students have presented their research at either local, regional, or national forums.
x undergraduates, including x recent Middlebury graduates, are co-authors of research papers published
in peer-reviewed journals. Many of the PI’s students have continued their careers to either gain
employment in industry (%) or pursue graduate studies (%). The PI has supervised the successful senior
honor thesis work of x students and is advising x thesis students and x non-thesis student during the
2012–2013 academic year. Of x recent graduates mentored by the P.I., x are currently attending dental
school (x), medical school (x), a Ph.D. program (x), and a Ph.D/M.D. program (x). [mention any other
students pursuing careers or applying to programs that are plausibly related to biomedicine; give some
indication of current thesis students’ plans]
Impact of an AREA Grant on the PI and Middlebury College
NIH-AREA support for this project will provide crucial support for the PI’s studies of [scientific area of
specialization]. Since coming to Middlebury College in [year], these studies have resulted in x
publications and x manuscripts submitted/under review/accepted and slated for publication in [date or
issue]. The [recent large awarded] project received x years of support from [sponsor], which
[results/current status]. NIH-AREA support is requested to support [e.g., the summer research
experiences of x rising seniors who will ultimately continue their honors thesis work on this area of study].
The opportunity to participate in and contribute to an active research investigation will benefit these
students as they continue their careers in health-related fields after graduating from Middlebury College.
[describe any anticipated results, products, courses that will result from the project]
Special Facilities or Equipment
[as needed]
Institutional Support for Proposed Research Project
Financial support for research and scientific instrumentation at Middlebury is strong. The College’s
state-of-the-art science facility, McCardell Bicentennial Hall, provides an average of 500 square feet of
high-quality research space for each faculty member in the laboratory sciences. The College budgets
over $1,000,000 annually for new and replacement equipment, maintenance, science technical support
staff, and cost-sharing for faculty grants. These funds were used, for example, to purchase [describe the
equipment] that will be used in the proposed project. The College’s endowments generated income of
nearly $275,000 last year specifically to support student-faculty collaborative research in the summer
and budgets nearly $120,000/year for the Undergraduate Collaborative Research and Faculty Research
Assistant Funds that support academic year as well as summer research efforts.
With the support of a grant from the Kresge Foundation, the College established an endowment to
replace scientific equipment, activated in 2007 and now valued at roughly $1.5M. Each year the college
makes available up to $350 per senior thesis student (with an option to compete for internal grants of
Updated April 22, 2013 APD
up to $1,500) and $2,000 per faculty member in support of research or travel for research purposes.
These funds are in addition to generous annual departmental supply budgets, start-up funds for new
faculty, and an "open" chemical stockroom policy for routine chemicals and supplies.
Updated April 22, 2013 APD