The primary goal of the Kavli Neuroscience Discovery Institute (Kavli NDI) Visiting Scientist Program is to enrich research at JHU by supporting short-term visits by external scientists to JHU laboratories. The program will promote scholarly exchange and establish new collaborations between the visiting scholars and the JHU community. This call invites proposals from current faculty of JHU to invite a non-JHU affiliated scientist to spend a minimum of one week at JHU. JHU faculty host applicants should contact their prospective candidate visitor directly to develop their proposal prior to submitting an application. To increase impact, it is expected that the Kavli Visiting Scientist will interact with the broader JHU community during the visit, by presenting a seminar or hosting a workshop, and chairing a discussion group.

The Visiting Scientist Program will reimburse travel and housing (room and board) expenses for the visit (up to $5,000) and provide a $2,000 honorarium for the visiting scientist. We plan to give out 3 awards for this RFA.

The Kavli Visiting Scientist Program encourages applications from current full-time faculty members of Johns Hopkins University to host a national or international scientist. All proposals will be reviewed as described below.

JHU faculty should propose a well-defined scientific justification to promote potential collaborations between the visiting scientist with JHU Faculty that is aligned with the mission of the Kavli NDI.  The proposal should be designed to develop or apply innovative technologies, provide access to unique datasets, acquire specialized fields of expertise or further develop facilities available to the JHU community. The Kavli Visiting Scientist Program aims to stimulate interdisciplinary scientific interactions, broaden the scientific horizons of Kavli NDI as well as the visiting scientist, and foster lasting collaborations that contribute greater understanding of the structure/function of the brain. 

To maximize of the impact of this program visiting scientists are expected to collaborate with their host and interact on site with the JHU community for a minimum of five working days. Further, visiting scientists will present at least one public seminar related to their research, and provide a second informal career development/mentorship talk and discussion group. 

Formatting Requirements 

All application materials must be formatted to fit on 8.5 x 11” paper with 1-inch margins, single line spacing, 12-point Arial or Helvetica font. Please adhere to the specified page limit for each section (listed in parentheses below).

Applications should be submitted as a SINGLE PDF file to kavlindi@jhu.edu

Proposal Materials 

Proposals should include the following items: 

1. Visiting Scientist’s Biosketch, not to exceed five (5) pages, in accord with NIH guidelines (for formatting assistance see http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sciencv/). 

2. Host Scientist’s Biosketch, not to exceed five (5) pages, in accord with NIH guidelines (for formatting assistance see http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sciencv/). 

3. Project Title and Lay Abstract: A title followed by a short lay description of the project in 300 words or less, written to be conceptually accessible to a non-expert audience, and highlighting the impact of the proposed research. 

4. Project Description (2 page maximum). This document should delineate: 

a. Background and Specific Aims: This section should clearly describe the background, the objectives of the project, and the hypotheses or questions addressed through the collaboration. 

b. Significance: This section should briefly describe the importance of the project or describe the critical barrier to progress in brain research and how the collaboration will improve scientific knowledge, technical capability, and/or practice if the aims are achieved. 

5. Titles or outlines anticipated for the seminar and the workshop/discussion group that will be shared with the JHU community.

Applications will be reviewed and accepted on a rolling basis.

Once notified of acceptance into the visiting scientist program, researchers are expected to visit within one calendar year.

Proposals will be evaluated by a team of internal evaluators. Priority will be given to proposals that are strongest in meeting the following criteria, which will be explicitly evaluated in the review process:

• Innovative exchange: The project seeks to have a transformative role in neuroscience discovery, encompassing the development of novel strategies, generation of innovative tools, and/or establishing facile data management/analysis methods, ultimately contributing to greater understanding of the structure/function of the nervous system. 
• Approach: The project’s design, methods, and analytic plan are well-developed, integrated, and appropriate to the aims of the proposed project and the research environment. 
• Strength of Applicant and host JHU Research Team: The researchers have a demonstrated ability to carry out and publish high quality research, and team members are uniquely qualified to create new synergies across their expertise with appropriate content knowledge and methodological practice to carry out all elements of the proposed project, including dissemination of research to appropriate target audiences.

Applicants who wish to discuss their project before applying are encouraged to contact members of the steering committee with the most relevant expertise. 

Questions regarding the application process or review timeline should be directed to Natasha K. Hussain, Scientific Director, Kavli NDI (KavliNDI@jhu.edu).

Kavli NDI Leadership & Steering Committee

• Dwight Bergles, Director, Kavli NDI; Professor, Neuroscience, dbergles@jhmi.edu
• Michael Miller, Co-Director, Kavli NDI; Professor, Center for Imaging Science, mim@cis.jhu.edu 
• Natasha K. Hussain, Scientific Director, Kavli NDI, natasha@jhmi.edu 
• Lisa Hamm, Administrative Assistant, Kavli NDI (SOM), lhamm4@jhmi.edu 
• Kimberly Biasucci, Administrative Assistant, Kavli NDI (Homewood), kbiasuc1@jhu.edu

Steering Committee 

• Andreas G. Andreou, Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering, andreou@jhu.edu 
• Dwight Bergles, Professor, Neuroscience, dbergles@jhmi.edu 
• Solange P. Brown, Assistant Professor, Neuroscience, spbrown@jhmi.edu 
• Randal Burns, Associate Professor, Computer Science, randal@cs.jhu.edu
• Kathleen Cullen, Professor, Biomedical Engineering, kathleen.cullen@jhu.edu
• Richard L. Huganir, Bloomberg Distinguished Professor; Professor and Director, Neuroscience, rhuganir@jhmi.edu 
• Natasha K. Hussain, Scientific Director, Kavli NDI, natasha@jhmi.edu
• Grace Hwang, Principal Investigator, APL Senior Neuroscientist, grace.hwang@jhuapl.edu
• Patricia Janak, Professor, Psychological and Brain Sciences, patricia.janak@jhu.edu 
• Hey-Kyoung Lee, Professor, Neuroscience, heykyounglee@jhu.edu 
• Michael I. Miller, Co-Director, Kavli NDI; Professor, Center for Imaging Science, & Director, Biomedical Engineering, mim@cis.jhu.edu
• Daniel O’Connor, Assistant Professor, Neuroscience, dan.oconnor@jhmi.edu 
• Sridevi V. Sarma, Associate Professor, Biomedical Engineering, ssarma2@jhu.edu 
• Joshua T. Vogelstein, Assistant Professor, Center for Imaging Science, jovo@jhu.edu