Respond to an RFP or Propose Your Own IDEA

Each year, TRB issues more than 150 requests for proposals (RFPs) for projects in the highway, transit, airport, rail, freight, and hazardous materials fields. In addition to traditional RFP initiated project, TRB’s Innovations Deserving Exploratory Analysis (IDEA) programs projects are initiated by researchers and are designed as a means to capture the unexpected concept that challenges conventional thinking. IDEA funding can support initial testing of unproven concepts.

Respond to an RFP or RFI

TRB's Strategic Highway Research Program 2 (SHRP 2); Innovations Deserving Exploratory Analysis (IDEA) programs; and its highway, transit, airport, freight, rail, and hazardous materials cooperative research programs each year award more than $50 million in transportation research funding on a wide variety of topics.

Submit an IDEA

TRB's  Innovations Deserving Exploratory Analysis (IDEA) Programs fund research into promising but unproven innovations for highways, transportation safety, and transit. Investigators may submit proposals in March or September of each year to be considered for funding.

Submit a Paper

The TRB Annual Meeting, held the first half of January every year in Washington, D.C., covers all transportation modes, with more than 3,000 presentations in nearly 600 sessions.  In addition, each year TRB sponsors more than 50 specialty conference and workshops that support sessions where papers are also presented.  Papers presented at any TRB-sponsored meeting are also eligible for consideration for publication in TRB's Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board.  The submission deadline for papers to be considered for the Annual Meeting is August 1.  Deadlines for paper or abstract submissions for specialty conferences vary.