The Competitive Academic Agreement Program (CAAP) provides funding for research pursuing innovative solutions in four pipeline safety and integrity challenge areas. PHMSAs 2024 CAAP focused on research and development (R) that advances equity by encouraging the participation of Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) and by integrating equity concerns in its research topics (i.e., mitigating climate change through the safe transportation of hydrogen while limiting the risk posed to socially vulnerable communities from aging cast iron pipelines).