UB Center on Addiction and Artificial Intelligence Research (CAAIR) Seed Funding Program
Call for Applications
The UB Center on Addiction and Artificial Intelligence Research (CAAIR) is offering pilot studies grants for projects to support interdisciplinary research to address the public health problem of harmful alcohol and other drug use by using artificial intelligence (AI) in careful, equitable, and responsible ways that will serve the public and the field. In this funding cycle, the Institute will fund projects up to $25,000 for one year. CAAIR’s mission statement can be found at URL.
A major objective of this pilot funding is to make possible new collaborations, bringing together researchers with distinct expertise in areas pertaining to substance use and the responsible application of AI to address the problem of harmful substance use in innovative ways. To this end, applications must include investigators across departments or decanal units and must provide a compelling argument for how pilot funding will facilitate a new collaboration. The expectation is for CAAIR-funded pilot studies to serve as pilot data for a larger grant application, to be submitted within 1 year of pilot study completion.
Consistent with our mission, a major objective of CAAIR is to work with community stakeholders to understand the promise and perils of AI in addressing harmful alcohol and other drug use. To this end, applications should highlight how the proposed project might build capacity for community partnerships. In addition, all investigators of CAAIR funded projects will be required to participate in a community engagement studio (https://www.buffalo.edu/ctsi/cores/community/community-engagement-studios.html), organized and funded by CAAIR , before the project launch.
Awardees are expected to present their funded work at the annual CAAIR research day.
Eligibility:
- Full-time UB Faculty from all 12 UB schools are invited to apply
- Investigative teams representing more than 1 department are encouraged but not required.
CAAIR is especially interested in projects that have direct impacts for the Buffalo community.
Determination of pilot studies funding occurs through a two-stage process:
Submission of a Letter of Intent (LOI), followed by submission of a full proposal upon invitation after LOI review. Details of the LOI are provided below.
Letter of Intent Submission (500-word limit):
- Project Title (Maximum 15 words)
- Names and affiliations of all investigators, including community partners, involved in the project
- Statement of the problem and how the proposed project will address this problem.
- How this project will facilitate a new collaboration not otherwise possible.
- Alignment of the proposed project and the CAAIR mission
- How the pilot study will support a future application for extramural funding, including identifying one or more target funding mechanisms
LOI must be emailed to Lynn Homish (DLHomish@buffalo.edu) by June 1st, 2026 to be considered for the first round of funding. Applicants will be notified two weeks after the deadline with a decision as to whether their proposal has been selected to move forward to Stage 2 of the application process.
The Stage 2 application will be due July 15th and will consist of:
- Proposal not to exceed 1200 words. This proposal should elaborate on core elements from the Letter of Intent and provide additional detail about the methodological approach. A specific plan for how this proposal will lead to an extramural funding application will be a key criterion for evaluation.
- 1-page detailed itemized budget spreadsheet.*
- 1 page budget justification
*Note: faculty salary support not allowed.
Questions about these pilot studies funding can be directed to Jennifer Read (JPRead@buffalo.edu) or Craig Colder (CColder@buffalo.edu).