According to the American Cancer Society, skin cancer is the most common of all cancers. Melanoma accounts for about 4 percent of skin cancer cases, but it causes about 79 percent of skin cancer deaths. Despite broad success in reducing the incidence of cancer in the United States, reported cases of melanoma have been rising for both women and men. The American Cancer Society estimates that in 2007 there were 59,940 new cases of melanoma in the United States; an additional million people are diagnosed with other, less aggressive types of skin cancer. Nearly 11,000 Americans die from skin cancer each year.

Would you like to help your community lower its incidence of skin cancer? Do you want to do more health programs at your library but lack the funds?

AAAS' Skin Deep Project is a two-year venture featuring an ambitious outreach and education program aimed at students, their teachers and the general public. As part of the project, AAAS will award up to 14 sub-grants to public libraries to do health outreach during 2008 in conjunction with the upcoming publication, Skin: The Science Inside.

In addition to supplying libraries with copies of the book and free skin-related giveaways, AAAS will provide up to $500 for programmatic support. It is recommended that libraries that wish to apply for these grants consider partnering with local health and community-based organizations.

The Skin Deep Project is funded by a grant from Neutrogena, the skin-care industry leader.

Download an application here.

Visit the Skin Deep Project homepage, where you can find further project resources, including a series of standards-based science lessons to use in the grade 6-12 classroom.