Scholar's Program

H. Clay Gabler Scholar’s Program Award

The award provides $20,000 USD over 12 months to support one student conducting research in domains of interest to AAAM.

AAAM Mission

The Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM) is a global, multi-disciplinary professional organization dedicated to saving lives and eliminating road traffic injuries through scientific research, authoritative educational programs, and public policy recommendations.

Purpose of the H. Clay Gabler Scholar’s Program Award

The H. Clay Gabler Scholar’s Program aims to:

  • Encourage original research on topics of interest to AAAM.

  • Foster the next generation of automotive/transportation safety researchers.

  • Promote the active mentorship of young researchers in the field of traffic safety by AAAM members.

The 2025-2026 H. Clay Gabler Scholar’s Program Award

The AAAM Scientific Program Committee (SPC) is seeking competitive proposals for the 2025-2026 H. Clay Gabler Scholar’s Program Award. The award provides $20,000 USD over 12 months to support one student researcher conducting research in domains of interest to AAAM.

The award is designed to augment ongoing research by AAAM members, collaborators, and student trainees, although compelling pilot projects will be considered. Proposals that demonstrate interdisciplinary and collaborative research efforts will be given extra consideration upon review. 

The award winner will be announced at AAAM’s 69th Annual Scientific Conference in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. We invite proposals that cover all aspects of the Haddon Matrix and the Five Pillars of the United Nations (UN) Decade of Action. We also encourage submissions that support the focus of our special interest groups: Automated Vehicles, Road Safety in Low- and Middle-Income Countries, Global Child & Youth Road Safety, and Motorcyclists’ Safety. Submissions in these areas are encouraged, although, given the organization’s multidisciplinary focus, the SPC welcomes submissions on diverse topic areas, including emergency medicine, behavioral research, biomechanics, epidemiology, public policy, and road traffic safety engineering (vehicle or environment-based).

Applicants are encouraged to visit and explore AAAM’s website for more information on the organization. As a general guideline, proposed research covering any entry in the well-known Haddon Matrix will be considered provided that other eligibility criteria are met.

Eligibility Criteria

The award is open to degree-seeking students currently enrolled at accredited institutions granting MS, MPH, PhD, MD, or MD/PhD degrees and conducting research in the areas aligned with the mission of AAAM. Because the award is designed to augment current research being conducted by the student, applicants must be no less than 1 year from degree completion at the time of the due date.

Applicants and mentors must be members of AAAM. However, researchers who are interested in submitting a proposal, but are not currently members of AAAM are invited to apply for the award and also include their membership applications as part of the submission. In the event that there are co-mentors, only one mentor must be a member, but the other is highly encouraged to apply for membership. Membership fees for the student awardee will be waived for one year following receipt of the H. Clay Gabler Scholar’s Program Award. Learn more about AAAM membership.

Proposals demonstrating interdisciplinary and collaborative research efforts will be given extra consideration.

Budget

A tabular budget with justification should be provided not to exceed $20,000 USD. Eligible costs include student stipend support, tuition support, supplies, and materials for conducting the proposed research. Up to 5% ($1,000) can be budgeted for travel. The funding will be paid to the home institution or department of the faculty mentor. Please note that indirect costs (a.k.a. overhead or F&A) cannot be applied to the budget. No salary support for faculty mentors can be included.

Notes and Requirements for Award Recipients

Award recipients are required to submit an abstract to AAAM’s 2026 Annual Scientific Conference to present their work at the AAAM conference or Student Symposium. The abstract can be for a full paper, short communication, or student symposium entry. Although an AAAM submission is highly encouraged, a final report can be submitted in lieu of an accepted abstract or paper, if necessary. Awardees are also encouraged to serve the organization on an existing committee or subcommittee in the year 2025 or 2026.

Application & Proposal Content Requirements

All applications must contain the following information and use the formatting below. Please submit a single PDF document in this order to assist the reviewers.

Title Page – Each submission should begin with a title page, including the title of the proposal, submission date, name of the student investigator, and mentor(s). Co-mentorship is permissible; however, a letter of support from each mentor should be included with the application. (1 Page Limit)

Cover Letter – A cover letter on institutional letterhead should be included by the student applicant outlining the nature of the work and personal motivation to undertake the project. (1 Page Limit)

Mentor Support Letter – The mentor(s) should provide a letter(s) of support for the student regarding the proposed work, indicating willingness to serve as a mentor and support for the technical aspects of the project. (1 Page Limit)

Institution Contracting Officer Letter – The applicant should include a letter from the Contracting Officer, or other institutional official authorized to sign contracts on behalf of the institution stating that they have reviewed the proposal budget and agree to the terms of the RFP, including the prohibition of indirect costs. (1 Page Limit)

Specific Aims Page – A specific aims page should be included delineating the aims of the project, indicating data sources to be used or new data to be collected, the central hypothesis or objective of the work, and the outcome measures that will be used to arrive at your conclusions. (1 Page Limit)

Technical Proposal – A more in-depth technical proposal should follow, with a limit of 3 pages, that expands on the aims page. In this section, we advise applicants to describe the current project in sufficient detail and note how the funding will be used to augment or expand the existing work. In the case of a pilot funding proposal, be sure to indicate how the work will lead to future grant submissions. In all cases, a description of milestones to be achieved should be noted. (3 Page Limit, not counting references)

Budget and Justification Page – A single-page budget justification and budget table showing all costs should be included, indicating how the funds will be spent over the 12-month period of the research project. (1 Page Limit)

Applicant CV or Resume – Students should include a condensed resume or CV, not to exceed 3 pages. The applicant’s name and institutions of higher education, including degree, start and end dates, and field of study, should be listed at the top of the first page. (3 Page Limit)

Following this, include:

  1. Brief Statement of Research Interests

  2. Educational Background and Training

  3. Professional Experience

  4. Awards and Honors

  5. Publications, Presentations, Abstracts or other scholarly work.

The application should use 12-point Times New Roman or Arial Font, single-spaced, with moderate margins (nominally Top and Bottom 1” (2.54 cm) and Left and Right 0.75” (1.9 cm).

Letters of support do not require specific formatting but should be on institutional letterhead.

Access the Application Packet Checklist

NOTE: The Application Packet Checklist document is solely meant as a guide to aid in the submission of a complete application and is not required nor to be included in the final application pdf document.

Submit Your Application

Review Process

Submissions will be reviewed by members of the AAAM Scientific Program Committee. The Student Program Subcommittee will undertake an initial review for completeness of proposals and assign reviewers who are members of the SPC with experience in the domain of the proposal to each submission. Two to three reviewers will be assigned to each submission. Reviewers will be asked to abstain from reviewing any submissions in which there are conflicts of interest.

Reviewers will evaluate proposals on a modified version of the US NIH Simplified Review Framework. A 9-point scale (1= Excellent, 9 = Poor) will be used to evaluate five criteria (Relevance to the AAAM Mission, Significance, Innovation, and Approach).

Reviewers will also assess whether the research team has the expertise and resources to complete the proposed research (Yes/No).

To encourage research in areas of focus for AAAM, there are incentives available to interdisciplinary research and research in LMICs. Any research with applications for LMICs, or researchers in LMICs will receive a -2 point incentive in the Relevance to the AAAM Mission category. Any research involving interdisciplinary research approaches will receive a -1 point incentive in the Approach category. Examples of interdisciplinary approaches include, but are not limited to, combining biomechanics approaches with epidemiology or combining human factors approaches with post-crash care. A -1 point incentive will also be given for interdisciplinary applications of the research in the Significance category.

The reviewers will meet to discuss the proposals with the lowest (best) scores and select the winning proposal. The Student Program Subcommittee (SPS) chair and vice chair will break ties. In the event that one of the tied submissions is from the institution of the SPS chair or vice chair, the Scientific Program Committee chair will break the tie.

Example scoring for a proposal

 

Reviewer #1

Reviewer #2

Reviewer #3

Average

Relevance to the AAAM Mission

LMIC Incentive

3

-2

2

-2

5

-2

1.33

Significance

Interdisciplinary Incentive

3

-1

3

0

5

-1

3

Innovation

7

4

6

5.67

Approach

Interdisciplinary Incentive

3

0

3

-1

4

-1

2.67

Researcher Qualified

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Total

13

9

16

12.67

Key Dates

  • June 30, 2025 – Call released

  • August 18, 2025 – Proposals due at 11:59 pm CT

  • September 22, 2025 – Winner notified

  • October 9, 2025 – Official announcement at AAAM’s Annual Scientific Conference Awards Ceremony and Dinner

The award will be officially announced during the awards ceremony and dinner at the AAAM’s 69th Annual Scientific Conference in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA, on October 9, 2025, although the awardee will be notified prior to this date. Recipients are not required to be present at the annual conference to receive the award. The goal will be to begin funding the award the same month, October 2025, for a 12-month period.

Reporting Requirements

The abstract submission indicated in the “Notes and Requirements for Award Recipient” will help disseminate the awardee’s work within AAAM. A second desired outcome of this program is to foster the next generation of leaders within AAAM. Therefore, as mentioned in the “Notes and Requirements for Award Recipient”, participation in service to the organization is a central aspect of the award.

Post-Award Recipient Timeline

  • A meeting the with Student Program Subcommittee between October and January to discuss adherence to propose project timeline and submission for AAAM research program.

  • Submit research to the Call for Research process for the 2026 Annual Scientific Conference in Costa Rica.

Contact

Questions on this solicitation can be mailed to Katie Keel, AAAM Executive Director, info@aaam.org, +1-847-884-3880.