Fairfax, Va. — The National Pest Management Association’s charitable organization — the Pest Management Foundation — recently issued a solicitation for grant proposals related to the management of structural pests and pests in urban and suburban environments.

Any submission deemed worthwhile by the Foundation will be eligible for a grant of up to $35,000. Eligible entities include, but are not limited to institutions of higher learning, non-profit organizations, for-profit businesses and individuals.

While the solicitation lists specific project ideas, the Foundation is interested in any proposal that pertains to the management of pests in structures and urban and suburban environments. Over the past few years the Foundation has funded published research on an emerging invasive ant species in the Southeastern U.S., the odorous house ant, the effectiveness of painting eaves to manage paper wasps, cobweb management as a strategy to control urban spiders, the effectiveness of yellow jacket trapping, bed bug control, and various methods of controlling the black widow and hobo spiders conducted by respective researchers at Clemson University, North Carolina State University, Texas Agri-Life Extension Service, University of California at Riverside, Cornell University, University of Kentucky, and Spokane Falls Community College. The Foundation also supported the World Health Organization’s recently published research on the public health significance on public health pests.

“Our main intent is to generate the submission of numerous different proposals,” said Gene Harrington, the executive director of the Foundation. “We recognize that there are countless valuable research ideas and issuing anything too prescriptive could preclude many worthy proposals. We look forward to carefully reviewing any and all proposals.”

The deadline for submissions is March 4, and the target for identifying a worthwhile applicant is by the middle of May. The solicitation is available at www.npmapestworld.org/support/foundation.cfm. Questions and proposals should be directed to Gene Harrington at gharrington@pestworld.org or 800/678-6722.