FAQs and Who Should Apply

While it is hard to calculate a specific rate, there is no doubt that TIGRR has been a very successful experience for mentees over the many years that it has been running. Based on follow-up surveys we think the likelihood of receiving funding is increased by 50-100%. Of course, we have excellent mentees starting the program. The mentors for TIGRR provide quality advice and guidance throughout the experience, and many funding representatives also participate in the workshop providing very valuable guidance to the mentees on site. Mentees often leave the workshop week considering funding opportunities that they had not been aware of before. You can view some testimonials from previous mentees below.

The Selection Committee will accept and review applications from emerging principal investigators who focus on rehabilitation research.  The applications that receive the highest scores are generally from junior faculty or researchers (including scientists, clinician-scientists, and engineers) who have a strong foundation for success through mentorship and resources at their home institution, and who are well prepared to serve a principal investigator role.  Applicants must not yet have been a PI on an NIH R01 or equivalent grant, but are eligible for NIH funding (either a research or career development award). The Committee will base its decisions in large part on the scientific quality and potential of the applicant’s proposed research, the letters from the applicant’s sponsor (Program Supervisor or Department Head) and the quality of the home institution mentorship team (or arrangements and coordination of mentorship outside of their home institution). The letters will be scored based on information they supply about the candidate, the assurances they provide about the candidate’s potential for success in research, and the sponsors’ (both mentor and institution) support for the candidate’s research career. For this reason, a letter from a mentor from the applicant's home institution is important and should address the applicant's interactions with the mentor.

The following are specific selection criteria:

• Junior or mid-career faculty or senior post-doctoral trainees in any rehabilitation discipline at US institutions that are eligible to receive federal funding. In unusual circumstances, a senior individual who is embarking on a research career change will be considered. On occasion, we will consider exceptional and relevant international applicants with unique expertise that would allow them to apply for NIH funding consistent with NIH guidelines.
• Nomination by a Department Chair, Division Head, or Program Director who can assure that the candidate will be able to prepare for the Workshop, participate fully during the Workshop, and, if successful, complete the research or research training as specified in the research proposal.
• Letter of Support from your Research Faculty Mentor at your home institution. It should include information regarding your potential as an academic and as a researcher, adequacy of training and research experience to be competitive for an NIH or equivalent grant, and your mentor’s qualifications and plan of supporting you in writing and submitting your proposal.
• Development of a research concept sheet according to specified guidelines to include background, literature review, specific aims, hypotheses, and methodology outline. Accepted participants must agree to complete this preparatory work prior to the Workshop
• Special consideration will be given to proposals that add a focus on mechanisms or translation, demonstrate affiliations between successful NIH-funded research programs and traditional rehabilitation disciplines, show collaboration among basic and clinical researchers, attract new talented investigators into the field, encourage successful researchers to add a rehabilitation focus, apply new investigative technologies to rehabilitation, and/or show collaboration across disciplines.
• The Committee will seek a group of mentees who have excellent training, have made outstanding progress in their field, have demonstrated high motivation and the potential for success in rehabilitation research, and come from a diverse group of institutions and disciplines.
• We encourage applications from women, minorities, persons with disabilities, and persons from disadvantaged backgrounds.

After mentees have been accepted, they are each matched with a primary mentor and secondary mentor that fit as closely as possible the area of expertise needed for the research proposal that the mentee will be working on during TIGRR. It is not always possible to have a perfect fit. The most important fit is that they understand how to put a compelling grant together in your area. The primary mentor will provide the mentee with feedback on their proposal before the workshop in January. Both the primary and secondary mentors will be familiar with the mentee’s proposal before the workshop, and both will be available for one-on-one consultations with the mentee during the workshop. Note that mentees can meet with any of the cadre of mentors during the workshop. At the end of the workshop, the primary mentor will discuss a plan of action with the mentee for what work they will need to do with their proposal.

Mentees who have their grant ready to submit during the 8 months after the workshop can have the opportunity to have it reviewed by a panel of mentees and mentors.

The Pod groups are 4-6 mentees with their primary mentors. They form sort of a homeroom for the workshop. The first night of the workshop, they listen to brief presentations of each proposal and provide important initial feedback. They meet occasionally during the workshop and at the end repeat the process of brief presentation and feedback to close out the workshop.

Yes, you may apply using a grant proposal that will be submitted for funding before the TIGRR workshop in January. However, if you are invited as a TIGRR mentee, then in October you must decide on either [a] providing a different proposal that you want to pursue by the October deadline provided or [b] be willing to continue to work on the submitted proposal to address reviewer feedback you received.

We do have some people who have smaller NIH grants or VA grants attend to get feedback on an R01 application, for example.

Yes, they can. Research partners can both apply with the same research proposal. However, they will need to submit separate applications along with separate support letters from department chairs and research faculty mentors. For a research team, it is possible for one to be accepted to TIGRR and not the other. Or, both can be accepted. It will depend on how competitive the applicant pool is for that year.

See the application webpage for step-by-step details about what is required in the application as well as for the application deadline. After the application deadline closes, applications are reviewed by multiple reviewers and scored based on a rubric. Then, the TIGRR executive committee reviews the scores and completed rubrics in order to make final decisions. In general, applicants with the highest scores are accepted. Since there are only so many qualified mentors available to support TIGRR, and with budget constraints from the NIH grant, TIGRR is only able to accept 38 mentees at most each year. This ensures that the quality of the program stays strong.

The Review Committee will base its decisions in large part on the scientific quality and potential of the applicants proposed research, the letters from the applicant’s sponsor (Program Supervisor or Department Head) and the potential for configuring a quality home institution mentorship team (or arrangements and coordination of mentorship outside of their home institution). The letters will be scrutinized for the information they supply about the candidate, the assurances they provide about the candidate’s potential for success in research, and the sponsor’s (both mentor and institution) support for the candidate’s research career. Thus, a letter from a mentor from the applicant’s home institution is important and should address the applicant’s interactions with the mentor. Under some circumstances the mentor may be at another institution as long as it is clear they have a good working relationship.

Yes. Email Briana Gaddis, Briana.Gaddis@cuanschutz.edu with your questions, and she will either be able to answer them herself, or she will put you in touch with one of the Co_PIs for TIGRR, Dr. Edee Field-Fote or Dr. Jennifer Stevens-Lapsley.

Because TIGRR’s workshop is an intensive experience, it is important for mentees to be engaged for the entire workshop week. It is not permissible to only attend a portion.

No. While we did run the full 2022 workshop remotely as a result of the Covid pandemic, if the workshop is in person it will not suit to have a mentee or multiple mentees participate remotely. It would be very difficult to give mentees equal opportunity for growth in a hybrid set-up. So much of the TIGRR workshop is about one-on-one meetings or group meetings with mentors, funding representatives and mentor/mentee groups. Even with today’s video-conferencing technology, it would be difficult to accomplish the same level of quality guidance for mentees if they were having to do every aspect of the workshop remotely while other participants are in-person. In particular, the networking aspects of the workshop would be lacking for those mentees not physically present with the rest of the participants.