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AAPM Expanding Horizons Travel Grant Round 1

American Association of Physicists in Medicine

The Expanding Horizons Travel Grant program is designed to provide students and trainees with an opportunity to broaden the scope of scientific meetings attended in their career. The proposed meeting should introduce new and relevant topics which may ultimately be incorporated into current or future medical physics research and progress the field in new directions.

Program Year 2027 is broken into two application cycles:

Round 1
Round 2 (application available ~February 1, 2027)

The total amount of support funding for use against travel, registration, and/or other expenses associated with attending the proposed meeting will be provided in the form of a reimbursement and is based on attendance type:

$1,500 if attending IN-PERSON –or–
$500 if attending VIRTUALLY/ONLINE ONLY

Please Note: $250 of the total award amount—regardless of attendance type—is contingent on a short, in-person presentation given by awardee at the next available AAPM Annual Meeting & Exhibition.

Examples of Ineligible Meetings

Any AAPM-sponsored meeting (ex: AAPM Annual Meeting, Spring Clinical, Summer School)
American Society of Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) Annual Meeting
Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) Annual Meeting
Any meeting regularly attended by institutional group/program (judged on case-by-case basis)
Any meeting that has previously been supported by an Expanding Horizons Travel Grant under the same Faculty/Advisor/Principal Investigator

Required Documents

1. Cover Letter/Personal Statement

Long-term career goals
Motivation to attend proposed meeting
Expected scientific value of attendance on dissertation project or future research

2. Curriculum Vitae

Limit to education, publications, presentations, and any relevant awards

3. Letter of Recommendation

Must also confirm that additional expenses outside of total award amount will be covered

4. Budget/Overall Expected Expenses

Application Deadline: September 15, 2026
Recipients Notified by: November 4, 2026

AI Based Application Success Predictor

1. Scientific merit of the proposal (highest predictor)

This is the strongest formal predictor. Published AAPM review criteria assign 50% of the score to scientific merit, including:

Significance
Innovation
Research environment
Soundness of the approach

A proposal with a weak scientific foundation is unlikely to be rescued by a strong CV or future-funding plan. The strongest applications clearly define an important medical-physics problem and use a rigorous, technically convincing approach.

2. Potential to develop into a major externally funded project (very high predictor)

AAPM's seed grant is explicitly designed to develop concepts that can lead to longer-term funding from:

NIH
DOE
DoD
Other equivalent major funding sources

Published criteria assign 25% of the review score to the project's potential to develop into a major externally funded program. A strong proposal should therefore explain exactly what preliminary data, proof of concept, or technical validation will be produced and which future grant mechanism it could support.

3. Strong investigator background and research potential (very high predictor)

The investigator's background accounts for another 25% of the published review criteria.

Competitive applicants typically demonstrate:

Relevant medical-physics expertise
Appropriate technical skills
Prior research productivity
Publications or scientific presentations
Evidence of ability to complete the project
Potential to build a sustained research program

For early-career investigators, accomplishments are most appropriately viewed relative to career stage.

4. Direct relevance to medical physics (very high predictor)

The project should clearly advance the science or application of physics in medicine. Strong areas include:

Radiation therapy physics
Medical imaging physics
Nuclear medicine physics
Dosimetry
Radiation detection
Treatment planning
Image reconstruction
Quantitative imaging
Artificial intelligence in medical physics
Radiation safety and quality assurance

AAPM's mission is to advance medicine through excellence in the science, education, and professional practice of medical physics, and its science program specifically uses seed grants to encourage new research.

5. Innovation and an exciting investigator-initiated concept (high predictor)

The Research Seed Funding Grant specifically seeks “exciting investigator-initiated concepts.”

Competitive proposals often involve:

Novel medical-physics technologies
New imaging or treatment methods
Innovative computational approaches
AI or machine learning
New quantitative biomarkers
Improved dosimetry methods
Emerging radiation-therapy techniques

The best projects are innovative enough to open a new research direction but sufficiently developed to produce useful results within the award period.

6. Strong and technically sound research approach (high predictor)

Because the soundness of the approach is embedded in the scientific-merit score, reviewers are likely to favor proposals with:

Clear aims
Appropriate experimental design
Strong technical validation
Suitable controls or benchmarks
Appropriate statistical analysis
Realistic milestones
Plans for technical risks and alternatives

In medical physics, technical credibility is particularly important because many projects involve complex imaging, radiation, computational, or instrumentation methods.

7. Feasibility within a focused seed-grant scope (high predictor)

The AAPM mechanism is intended for seed research rather than a full-scale mature research program. The strongest proposals are therefore focused enough to generate meaningful evidence within the award period and available budget.

A competitive project typically aims to produce:

Proof-of-concept data
Technical feasibility results
Pilot clinical data
Prototype development
Preliminary validation

The current program provides $25,000 per award, reinforcing the importance of a tightly scoped and executable project.

8. Strong research environment and access to necessary resources (high predictor)

The research environment is explicitly included in AAPM's scientific-merit assessment.

Strong applications demonstrate access to:

Imaging or radiation-therapy equipment
Computing infrastructure
Relevant datasets
Clinical collaborators
Engineering or technical resources
Appropriate institutional support

The proposal should make clear that the applicant can perform the work without relying on unavailable resources.

9. Clear pathway to dissemination and visibility (high predictor)

AAPM expects grant recipients to submit research results for presentation at future AAPM meetings.

Competitive projects should therefore have a credible pathway toward:

AAPM Annual Meeting presentation
Peer-reviewed publication
Preliminary data for external grant applications
Broader dissemination to the medical-physics community

Projects likely to produce interpretable and publishable results are strategically stronger.

10. Potential to establish a sustained medical-physics research program (high predictor)

AAPM's research activities are designed to encourage new research and strengthen the medical-physics profession. The Foundation's recent annual reporting shows continued investment in seed grants and research-development programs, while the broader Education & Research Fund supports the long-term development of the field.

Specialties

Global Health

Others

Eligibility Requirements

Proposed meeting cannot be specifically related to medical physics.
Proposed meeting must take place between January 1, 2027, and June 30, 2027.
Must be a current graduate student, postdoctoral fellow, or current resident within five years of graduation at time of submission.
Must be an AAPM member in good standing at the time of submission.
Must not be a past Expanding Horizons awardee.

Sponsor Details

Sponsor Institute/Organizations: American Association of Physicists in Medicine

Sponsor Type: Corporate/Non-Profit

Address: 1631 Prince Street Alexandria, VA 22314

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