Transportation research at USC is frequently completed in cooperation with one of several research consortia. Research relating to transportation systems and new technologies is often done in association with the California Partnership for Advanced Transit and Highways (PATH), established by the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) in 1986 to support research on advanced technologies for transportation; or the Center for Commercial Deployment of Transportation Technology (CCDoTT), a university/industry consortium formed by USC, the California State University at Long Beach, and several industrial partners in 1995. Research relating to transportation infrastructure and is often done in association with the Southern California Earthquake Center (SCEC), a university consortium formed in 1991 with the U.S. Geological Survey; the California Universities for Research on Earthquake Engineering (CUREe), or the Center for Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research (PEER), an university/industry consortium formed in 1996.
Transportation research at USC is sponsored by a variety of sources, including the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), the US Department of Defense (DOD), the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), the National Center for Earthquake Engineering Research (NCEER), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and other organizations.