The National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) is conducting an outcomes assessment for the Large Scale Collaborative Projects (Glue Grants) program. As the principal investigator of the above referenced grant, your input and assistance for the planned assessment activities is required.
A process evaluation was conducted in FY2009 that focused on program implementation and management. The results of that assessment are available at: http://www.nigms.nih.gov/Research/FeaturedPrograms/Collaborative/GlueGrants/. NIGMS has also conducted a number of mid-term assessments of individual projects focusing on management issues, setting milestones, assessment of on-going progress, and ever-greening of program resources. This assessment will focus on the overall outcomes and their value to the scientific community.
An expert panel will be convened in early 2011 to assess the overall impact of the Glue Grant program. The panel will be asked to consider the following sources of information and to consider this data, in view of their own expert perspectives of the field and the overall scientific environment:
- Basic program administrative information prepared by NIH staff;
- Investigator input hereby requested from Glue Grant Awardees;
- Broader community input gathered via the NIGMS website;
- Bibliographic and citation data from relevant public databases.
As the principal investigator of one of the Glue Grant Awards, you are asked to respond to the attached Request for Information from Glue Grant Investigators. Your response by December 15, 2010 will be greatly appreciated. In addition, you are asked to assist in notifying the broader community about this assessment by immediately posting the following text and hyperlink in a prominent place on your Glue Grant Project website or Nature Gateway. “NIGMS Seeks Input for Assessment of Glue Grant Program” Link to
http://www.nigms.nih.gov/Research/FeaturedPrograms/Collaborative/GlueGrants/OutcomeAssessment. You are also asked to give Nature Publishing Company permission to provide information to NIGMS regarding the utilization of the project’s Nature Gateway.
Please bear in mind the overall focus of this assessment is not the success of any given project or group of investigators, but the overall conception of the program as a whole and its accomplishments, and how the overall program should evolve in the future.
If you have questions or comments with respect to this activity, please send email directly to me, Jeremy Berg, Director, NIGMS at bergj@nigms.nih.gov and cc to Dr. Peter C. Preusch (NIGMS), the chair of the assessment organizing committee at preuschp@nigms.nih.gov.