Minnesota Department of Transportation – 2026 Request for Academic Proposals

Posted: 2026-08-17 14:42:36   Expiration: 2026-09-07 09:00:00

Each year, MnDOT and the Local Road Research Board seek research proposals that attempt to address the research needs and ideas of Minnesota city, county and state transportation practitioners.

MnDOT collects research ideas from various sources, including MnDOT staff and city/county engineers. These ideas are then developed into Research Need Statements and researchers are then asked to submit proposals to address these needs. Researchers are encouraged to work with the listed Technical Liaisons when developing the research proposal.

Please note – two Needs Statements have been updated with supplemental information:

• NS 787 – Evaluating use cases of cargo e-bikes in Minnesota
• NS 784 - Concrete crack detection and mapping using AI processing of high-resolution images

Process

1. Route your proposals through Novelution for approval Send the Word file of your proposal and the approved letter to NDSU assistant professor Armstrong Aboah by Sept. 7, 2026 (by 8 am). 
2. Armstrong will add them to the summary Excel sheet and forward them to Amy Scott for submission.  

Project proposal form and instructions

• Proposal form (.docx) 
• Proposal instructions (.pdf)

More information is available at the MnDOT Research & Innovation website.

-- NDSU Research and Creative Activity: Fred Hudson