D.C. TRIP: Travel for Research, Innovation, and Partnerships

Support for the professional development of faculty by facilitating interactions with prospective federal sponsors.

The overall goal of this program is to support early and mid-career faculty development and increase the competitiveness of their research proposals through successful interaction and relationship building with major federal sponsors.

Scope of the Award: The D.C. TRIP grant will provide transportation, lodging, and per diem expenses for a three-day, two nights trip to Washington, D.C. Rates are based on GSA analyses https://www.gsa.gov/travel/plan-book/per-diem-rates.

Eligibility: Faculty members with the rank of Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, Research Assistant Professor or Research Associate Professor who hold a full-time appointment (1.0 FTE) may apply.  Awardees may only receive one TRIP grant.

Fall Deadline: August 5th at 5PM

Spring Deadline: January 5th at 5PM

Summer Deadline: May 5th at 5PM

Application: Submit one pdf file to OOR@UCCS.EDU

Application materials:

• Cover Letter: Your Name, Department, Rank, Dates of Proposed Travel, Detailed Budget (using gsa.gov rates).
• Letter of Interest: Please provide a brief description of your specific research focus, your goals for the trip, and expected outcomes. You must also provide an overview of the name of the agencies, and affiliated institutes or programs, with whom you would like to meet.  You are encouraged to list more than one agency and potential program officer on the application. (1 page limit).
• Abbreviated CV or NIH or NSF Biosketch. (5 page limit).

Award Selections: Approximately 2 awards are made for each application period. TRIP applications are reviewed by a subgroup of members from the Research Faculty Advisory Board (R-FAB). The R-FAB forwards their recommendations to the AVC-R. The AVC-R makes the final decision.

Reporting: Those awarded a D.C. TRIP grant must submit a final report documenting the outcomes of the travel within 30 calendar days of meeting with the funding agency program manager. The report must detail plans to follow up after the meeting, including submission of a proposal to that agency, or a substitute agency, and a brief description of how information gained through meetings with program officers informed or changed the development of your proposal. To submit the report, use the link below or email OOR@UCCS.EDU for a direct link.

Award Conditions: The decision to participate in the D.C. TRIP program is voluntary and at the faculty member’s discretion.  Faculty who receive funding and wish to participate, must adhere to the award stipulations if their travel expenses are to be covered.

Conditions are determined by the OOR and may be subject to change. TRIP award recipients who fail to comply with award conditions are not eligible for other OOR funding (e.g., CRCW, URA, etc) until a) all conditions are met and b) at least three years have passed since the conditions were met.

Awardees are required to:

• Participate in a pre-travel preparation session with a CU Foundation Liaison. This pre-travel preparation session is mandatory and will be arranged by the AVC-R. Awardees shall not engage in lobbying and must comply with all regulations regarding government and federal relations, see https://www.cu.edu/office-government-relations/federal-relations for more information.
• Complete reporting requirements which is due to the Office of Research within one month of returning from the expense incurring event. Reporting survey can be found HERE
• Submit for travel reimbursement after the reporting is complete but not later than 30 calendar days after the travel period in which travel occurred.

Processing Travel Payment/Reimbursement:

To request reimbursement for travel expenses, faculty must send an email requesting travel reimbursement to oor@uccs.edu. The email must include itemized receipts and include justification for all expenses claimed for reimbursement up to the initially approved amount.

Once the reimbursement request is processed, the Office of Research will transfer the total amount of approved expenses to the identified departmental speedtype that will be processing the traveler’s expense report.

If the faculty member pays out of pocket for the travel, and has an approved travel award, the Office of Research will work with the Faculty member to process a reimbursement request through the Concur system.

Download the Reimbursement Request Process Form here.

Note: Additional expenses input into Concur not covered under the TRIP award amount will need to be paid by a departmental, grant, or other appropriate resource.

D.C. TRIP Program Continuance: The D.C. TRIP program is dependent on funding availability and is not a guaranteed source of funding.  The Associate Vice Chancellor for Research (AVCR) will do everything possible to ensure funding remains available and this valuable resource remains available for our faculty. Every three years, the D.C. TRIP program will be evaluated by the AVCR to determine use, impact, and budget sustainability. A recommendation will be made by the AVCR to the Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and the Vice Chancellor for Administration and Finance to sustain, revise, or dissolve the program.

The D.C. TRIP program is modeled after the same named program at the University of Oregon.