TREP Guidelines

Application for TREP Matching Funds

The Transportation Research Endowment Program (TREP) was established as a result of an endowment made by Honda of America Manufacturing Inc. (HAM) following the sale of the Transportation Research Center (TRC) by the State of Ohio to HAM in 1988. Additional endowments have resulted from annual surpluses from continuing operation of the TRC by the OSU Engineering Experiment Station. According to the terms of the endowment, the income from TREP is to be used by the College of Engineering for the support and encouragement of research by The Ohio State University in automotive, vehicular, and related forms of transportation, and for the development of improved highway facilities for vehicular traffic.

Since 1999, College of Engineering has made a concerted effort to use the TREP funds to leverage external funding. To achieve this goal, several TREP matching fund competitions were held. The intent was to initiate new programs for transportation research, and to enhance the activities of existing programs by providing TREP funds to leverage new funding from external sources. In these competitions, short proposals were submitted by the College faculty and were reviewed by faculty members from OSU or other academic institutions and representatives from automotive industry. Principal investigators of the selected proposals could then include TREP funding as part of the institutional support in their proposals to external sponsors. However, the TREP funds were awarded only when the external funding was secured.

Although the process was successful in leveraging external funding and providing support for a broader group of faculty and research programs, it made it difficult to respond to opportunities that did not coincide with the TREP competition cycle. In an effort to simplify the process, provide more flexibility and enable responding to funding opportunities in a more timely manner, the College of Engineering has established a new process for applying for TREP matching funds as leverage for external funding.

As before, the areas supported by TREP funds shall be restricted to those named in the terms of the endowment and indicated above.

Application Process

  1. Principal investigators who are in the process of submitting a proposal to an external funding agency may apply for matching TREP funds.
  2. Application should be made at least TWO weeks before the proposal submission deadline to provide adequate time to review/evaluate the request.
  3. The application should include the following:
    1. Funding agency to whom the proposal will be submitted (provide the name, the specific office which issued the solicitation)
    2. A copy of the solicitation (if applicable)
    3. A short summary of the proposed research and how it relates to the areas named in the terms of the endowment (maximum one page). A list of the PIs and co-PIs, their departmental affiliation and a short description of their involvement in the project (one or two sentences for each)
    4. A brief justification for the TREP fund request (e.g., If a cost match is mandated or strongly encouraged by the funding agency, etc.) (maximum half a page)
    5. Information about the cost share breakdown. Please include all sources of cost-share including the cost share from your department, center or unit. Cost share from these units, while not a strict requirement, will increase the likelihood of the proposal being supported at the "full" amount. A 1 to 1 cost match from these entities is desired.
    6. A draft budget (For all TREP request you must use the budget template used by EES proposal coordinators). The budget should show the direct cost in broad categories, but should include information about student support, tuition, faculty summer salary, release time, equipment, and materials and supplies.). In accordance with practices being initiated by Federal Agencies matching support for faculty release time is discouraged.
  4. The application should be submitted to the Associate Dean for Research. Funding decisions will be made by the Associate Dean for Research, in consultation with the Dean.
  5. If the request is granted, the P.I.s can include the TREP matching funds as part of the institutional cost share in their proposals to the external funding agency.

Funding Level/Commitments

  1. Each request will be considered on a case-by-case basis. If the request is granted, the magnitude of TREP matching funds provided will also be determined on a case-by-case basis. But, the funds to be provided will NOT exceed a pre-determined percentage (currently 33%) of the total cost of the project. TREP matching funds will not carry indirect cost as these are internal OSU funds. The percentage may vary between 0 and the pre-determined percentage depending on the above considerations and on the availability of funds.
  2. The matching fund commitments made through this process are conditional. The release of the TREP funds is contingent upon funding of the external proposal. If the proposal is rejected, the conditional commitments will be retracted.
  3. If the amount awarded by the external sponsors is reduced considerably from the time of the request, TREP matching fund commitment will be reduced accordingly.

Eligibility

  1. Principal investigators must be full-time faculty members or Research Scientists of The Ohio State University, with appointments within the College of Engineering. If the proposal includes P.I.s from other colleges, the TREP matching funds will only be provided in proportion to the % expenditure credit indicated for COE P.I.s on the PA005 form.
  2. Only those proposals that are relevant to transportation research will be considered.
  3. Equipment grants will not be included in this process.
  4. If the proposal to a federal agency includes a budget allocation for equipment, TREP matching funds will not be used to replace the usual cost share that is split three ways among the Office of Research, the College of Engineering and the Department.
  5. Matching fund requests made after the proposal is submitted will NOT be considered.

Additional Considerations

A higher priority will be given to

  1. Proposals to federal funding agencies
  2. Proposals in which cost share requirements are imposed by the external funding agency
  3. Faculty members who have not received TREP matching funds in recent years
  4. Junior faculty members