The Whitaker Foundation is a private, nonprofit foundation whose mission is to improve human health through the support of biomedical engineering.
The foundation was established in 1975 upon the death of U.A. Whitaker, founder and chief executive officer of AMP Incorporated, which grew to become the world’s largest manufacturer of electrical connectors and connecting devices. Since its inception, the foundation has awarded more than $700 million to colleges and universities for faculty research, graduate fellowships, and program development.
The foundation is on course to spend all of its assets and close in 2006 and is no longer accepting applications for new grant awards except in four areas.
The Teaching Materials Program will accept new applications for funding through 2003, with the final deadline for full applications being November 1.The Teaching Materials Program began in 1995 with the goal of improving biomedical engineering education through the development of core textbooks and other teaching materials at the undergraduate or early graduate levels.
Transitional Funding for principal investigators on Research Grants will be made at least through 2003.
Conference Awards will be made until the middle of 2005.
NIH Summer Internships will be supported through 2004.
Selected authors are supported through institutional grants for release time or sabbaticals needed to complete a manuscript.
The maximum grant is $85,000 for single authors or $135,000 for multiple authors. Grant requests may include salary and other justified direct costs, but no indirect costs. A portion of the grant, $25,000 for single authors or $35,000 for multiple authors, is contingent upon acceptance of the manuscript by a publisher. No payments will be made by the foundation after 2005.
Since biomedical engineering integrates engineering and the life sciences to define and solve biomedical problems, this defines the premise for successful applications.
Example textbook topics include biomaterials, biomechanics, biosignals, biosystems, cellular engineering, design for biomedical engineers, life sciences for biomedical engineers, measurements and bioinstrumentation, and transport phenomena in biological systems.
Transitional Funding supports principal investigators in the Biomedical Engineering Research Grants Program who use the funding to secure a major grant from a source other than The Whitaker Foundation.
Transitional Funding bridges the time between the end of the Research Grant and the beginning of the new support for up to one year.These awards are for investigators who are still establishing their independence. Investigators who already have substantial outside support, such as a major NIH R01 grant, are ineligible.
Conference Awards support meetings that enhance the field of biomedical engineering in a new or innovative way.These grants usually do not support a general series of conferences unless they have special significance for the development of biomedical engineering.
The conference or its supported component must have high intrinsic scientific value and should do more than provide a platform for reporting research results.Areas of interest to the foundation include cross-disciplinary activity, new opportunities for collaborations, and educational issues and policies in biomedical engineering.
The timeliness and importance of the topic, the soundness of the plan, and the qualification of the organizers are considered in making awards. Student participation is encouraged.
NIH Summer Internships, which began three years ago, have enabled undergraduate biomedical engineering students to conduct research in NIH labs in Bethesda, Md., under the mentorship of world-class scientists. A total of 60 students have successfully completed this program.
For detailed guidelines and application procedures for the Teaching Materials Program,Transitional Funding, Conference Awards, and NIH Summer Internships, click here.
You will also find information on programs for which the foundation is no longer accepting new applications.
Annual Report 2002
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