The Institute for Research on Women was pleased to be able to run a small grant open competition during Fall 1990 to promote faculty and graduate student new joint research in the area of gender and health issues. Although the funds were limited, we have been able to award seed money for three diverse projects whose applications met our guidelines. Anne Roschelle will use the funds to work on a project investigating the role of minority family networks in either creating stress or improving mental health. Monika Reuter-Echols is engaged in a project on the role of new technologies in generating stress among librarians, a female-dominated job which has not been considered in most occupational research on this topic. Finally, Pamela Robert is analyzing interviews of women who used alternative child birth methods to study their impact on mental health. In each case the graduate student researcher is working in collaboration with Professor Glenna Spitze. The Institute looks forward to reporting the results of these interesting projects in future issues of IROW News.