| Issue Date: | November 24, 2025 |
| Application Due Date: | January 5, 2026 by 11:59 pm ET |
| Grant Selection Notification: | By May 22, 2026 |
| Period of Performance: | 8 weeks – 3 years |
The AASM Foundation is dedicated to advancing sleep science and fostering the next generation of sleep and circadian researchers. The AASM Foundation Rising Investigator Supplement Grant provides an opportunity for sleep and circadian science investigators, who have a funded research program, to support mentored sleep and circadian research training of promising students, post-doctoral fellows, and clinical fellows who have encountered challenges or barriers to accessing resources and/or professional growth opportunities that have prevented them from participating in sleep and circadian science projects.
The following individuals are eligible to apply:
- Principal investigators with an active sleep and circadian science research grant from a US federal agency or US-based non-profit organization.
The following candidates are eligible to be supported by the grant:
- Candidates must be one of the following:
- Students who are enrolled in an undergraduate, graduate, or health professional degree-granting program.
- Individuals who are enrolled in a post-baccalaureate program.
- Individuals who are within one year of completing bachelors, masters or doctoral degree and taking a gap year in their education.
- Clinical residents, post-doctoral fellows, or clinical fellows.
- Candidates must be citizens or non-citizen nationals of the United States or individuals who have been lawfully admitted for permanent residence in the United States (i.e., in possession of a Permanent Resident Card, Form I-551).
The following individuals are not eligible to apply:
- International investigators are not eligible to apply.
- Current AASM and AASM Foundation Board of Directors members are not eligible to apply and cannot be listed as a principal investigator, key personnel, mentor (paid or unpaid) or paid consultant during their term on the Board and for one year after their term ends.
Note: In rare instances, AASM and AASM Foundation Board members may serve as unpaid consultants on an application, however, this requires Executive Committee approval prior to submitting the application. - Individuals and organizations located in, or operating from, countries subject to U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctions are not eligible to receive AASM Foundation funding.
The Rising Investigator Supplement Grant provides an opportunity for sleep and circadian science investigators, who have a funded research program, to support mentored sleep and circadian research training of promising students, post-doctoral fellows, and clinical fellows who have encountered challenges or barriers to accessing resources and/or professional growth opportunities that have prevented them from participating in sleep and circadian science projects.
All sleep and circadian science investigators holding an active research grant may request supplemental funds to mentor rising investigators and increase the sleep and circadian research workforce.
This request for applications for the Rising Investigator Supplement Grant is open to mentored projects that address one or more important unanswered scientific questions related to sleep and circadian science, sleep disorders, and/or sleep health.
The proposed research must provide meaningful experience in sleep and/or circadian science-related research to stimulate and/or retain interest in sleep research careers, and develop the candidate’s research capabilities for all education and training levels of candidates. For candidates with advanced education or training, the proposed research must support their research training in preparation for an independent sleep research career.
Since this is a Career Development Grant, the principal investigator applying must serve as the research mentor of the candidate for the duration of the Rising Investigator Supplement Grant. The applicant must have skills, knowledge, and resources to mentor the candidate in sleep and circadian research and have active research grant funding.
Applicants submitting multiple applications: Applicants may apply for multiple AASM Foundation grants; however, proposals with budgetary or scientific overlap cannot be submitted for multiple requests for applications within the same grant cycle. All applicants are required to disclose any potential overlap in the Other Support section of their application. Submitting more than one Rising Investigator Supplement Grant application to support different candidates is allowed, however, only one candidate in the Principal Investigator’s lab will be supported if selected for funding.
Applicants submitting applications with budgetary/scientific overlap: Scientific and budgetary overlap with current grants, regardless of funding source, is permissible when the Principal Investigator is applying for a supplemental grant to support a candidate through the Rising Investigator Supplement Grant, provided that the candidate’s role is distinct and additive to the parent project. In such cases, the Principal Investigator must clearly describe how the candidate’s work will complement, rather than duplicate, the aims of the parent grant.
Applicants with an open AASM Foundation Grant: Individuals who are serving as Principal Investigators on an active AASM Foundation grant at the time of the application deadline may apply for a new AASM Foundation grant only if they can demonstrate that there is no budgetary or scientific overlap between the open grant and the proposed project. If overlap exists, the applicant must provide a plan to close the current grant if the new application is funded, such as relinquishing the current grant or completing it before initiating the new project.
Past applicants of the Rising Investigator Supplement Grant who were not funded are allowed a single resubmission within 12 months of receipt of the original application notification.
If resubmitting an original and unfunded application, the applicant and candidate must still meet all eligibility criteria listed under the Eligibility section of this request for applications. The resubmission must include a response to the reviewer’s critique and a response to the original application’s reviewers.
Resubmission of an original application for one grant program across another grant program is not permitted.
The Rising Investigator Supplement Grant provides funds for 8 weeks to 3 years, depending on the duration of an active parent research grant, and can be for up to 20% of the parent grant (maximum of $50,000). The funds can be used for salary support (commensurate with current stipends or salaries) for a mentored sleep and circadian science research project of a parent sleep and circadian science research grant. Indirect costs are not allowed. A sample contract is available here.
The Rising Investigator Supplement Grant will only support candidates who meet the eligibility criteria, and the total support cannot exceed the established amount of the supplemental grant (i.e., up to 20% of the grant not to exceed $50,000).
This AASM Foundation research grant is supported by AASM Foundation general funds.
A grant review committee, appointed by the AASM Foundation Executive Committee, will evaluate and score all submitted applications. Factors that will be taken into consideration include:
- Research Plan and Goals: Research plan is tailored to the academic level of the candidate and includes goals, milestones, and objectives of the proposed research. The proposed research must contribute significantly to the research career development of the candidate.
- Mentoring and Training Plan: Plan for training includes opportunities to acquire new research, presentation, and publication skills; training also includes protections for human subjects or animal care. Plan for mentorship includes experiences to increase candidate’s knowledge, skillset, and abilities.
- Candidate Statement: Candidate’s career goals, educational achievement and interest in science will be bolstered through this new research experience. Appointment of the candidate will increase the sleep research workforce pipeline.
Only materials submitted within the application will be used in the evaluation of applications. The AASM Foundation Executive Committee will make the final funding decisions.
| Payment #1 – Upon execution of contract | 100% |
Outcomes are an essential component of this grant. All proposals must identify the goals and appropriate outcome measures of the research. The outcomes should align with the goals and objectives stated in the applicant’s and candidate’s proposal for this grant. As such, the following deliverables are required:
- The applicant must address the specific aims, and any major modification requires AASM Foundation Board of Directors or Executive Committee approval.
- The AASM Foundation expects that the research funded by this grant will lead to the publication of original research in peer-reviewed journals, such as the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, and submission of an abstract to the Associated Professional Sleep Societies (APSS) for presentation at the annual SLEEP meeting, with the opportunity for the candidate to be the lead author. The plan and costs for these deliverables must be stated in the application.
- The applicant must submit progress and final reports during the project period and set deadlines, describing project activities and results, as outlined below. Failure to submit reports per the established schedule will result in withholding grant payments from the sponsoring organization and the grant recipient becoming ineligible to apply for future AASM Foundation funding until all outstanding reporting is up to date.
| Progress Reports |
|
| Final Report | Within 90 days of grant completion |
The due dates for progress and final reports are established after a grant contract is executed between the AASM Foundation and the sponsoring organization.
