The ORAU Travel Grants Program provides up to $800 to fund faculty or staff members of ORAU member institutions to travel to meet with researchers at ORNL, Y-12, ORAU work sites or another ORAU member institution. The purpose of the program is to support new collaborations (proposed partners have no strong current ties) with well-defined outcomes (joint white paper/proposal to an identified opportunity or publication as a result of data collected during the proposed visit).
Applications must be for travel to collaborate with researchers at ORNL, Y-12, ORAU laboratories or work sites, or another ORAU institution. This program is not intended to support travel to work with current collaborations or to interact with potential collaborators at locations other than their laboratories, such as conferences.
Penn State is limited to two requests within ORAU’s fiscal year (October 1 – September 30).
Criteria for decisions to award travel grants include:
- Potential engagement of others, especially students
- Probability of a long-term collaboration
- New collaboration (proposed partners have no strong current ties)
- Well-defined outcome(s), such as a proposal to an identified opportunity, a white paper in anticipation of future funding, or a publication as a result of data collected during the visit.
Please note that:
- Requests must comply with federal travel expenditure guidelines.
- Applications must be submitted BEFORE the travel takes place (no grants will be awarded after the fact).
Funding Restrictions
- ORAU does not allow overhead charges or indirect costs on the award from ORAU.
- Grants may only be used to cover either transportation expenses (train, plane, bus or other) or accommodation expenses.
- Other travel-related expenses, such as food, will not be reimbursed.
- Travel must be completed by September 30.
Reporting
Within 30 days of the trip, grant recipients will need to send a one-page summary of the outcomes of the trip, including any presentations made, visits with students, other benefits, and anticipated outcomes.
Requirements for the Penn State Downselect (1 - 2 pages max):
- Total funding requested
- Budget request (including leverage from other sources)
- Location and potential partner to be visited
- Purpose or objective of visit
- History of contact between the two parties
- Anticipated outcome(s) of the travel