# Pipeline Safety Research Competitive Academic Agreement Program (CAAP)  (20.724)

Source: https://welltoldgrants.com/programs/20-724-pipeline-safety-research-competitive-academic-agreement/  
Publisher: Well Told Grants. Data: USAspending.gov and Grants.gov, updated November 7, 2026.

Pipeline Safety Research Competitive Academic Agreement Program (CAAP)  is run by Department of Transportation. From fiscal 2021 to 2025 it awarded $15.1 million in 21 grants, about $720,291 per award.

## Objectives

The CAAP initiative is intended to spur innovation by enabling an academic research focus on high-risk and high pay-off solutions for the many pipeline safety challenges. It will potentially deliver solutions that can be “hand-offs” to PHMSA’s core research program of demonstration and deployment. The goal would be to validate proof of concept of a thesis or theory all the way to commercial introduction into the market. Further, the pipeline industry and federal/state regulators are experiencing low numbers of applicants to entry level positions that are technically focused. As such, another goal of the CAAP program is to expose graduate and PhD research students to subject matter that is common to pipeline safety challenges and to illustrate how their engineering or technical disciplines are highly needed in the field. The ultimate benefit would be to cultivate new talent in all aspects of pipelines, similar to how programs at other Federal Agencies and non-profit organizations have encouraged talent to consider a career in a certain field.

## Funding by fiscal year

| Year | Amount | Awards |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | $1.8 million | 3 |
| 2022 | $4.3 million | 5 |
| 2023 | $4.3 million | 6 |
| 2024 | $2.1 million | 3 |
| 2025 | $2.6 million | 4 |

## Largest recipients

| Recipient | State | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| North Dakota State University | North Dakota | $2.0 million |
| University of Dayton | Ohio | $1.8 million |
| Rutgers, the State University | New Jersey | $1.3 million |
| Arizona State University | Arizona | $1.3 million |
| McNeese State University Foundation | Louisiana | $1.2 million |
| The Trustees of the Stevens Institute of Technology | New Jersey | $1.0 million |
| Brown University | Rhode Island | $1.0 million |
| University of Oklahoma | Oklahoma | $1.0 million |
| Marquette University | Wisconsin | $735,723 |
| Texas A&m University-Corpus Christi | Texas | $722,035 |
| Trustees of the Colorado School of Mines | Colorado | $665,370 |
| Texas A&m Engineering Experiment Station | Texas | $579,491 |
| University of Miami | Florida | $550,000 |
| The University of Akron | Ohio | $456,296 |
| University of North Dakota | North Dakota | $426,500 |
| Texas a & M University | Texas | $279,754 |
| Louisiana State University | Louisiana | $229,576 |