The Sun Grant Association is a group of five U.S. universities that serve as regional centers of the Sun Grant Initiative, established by the U.S. Congress in the Sun Grant Research Initiative Act of 2003. They research and develop sustainable and environmentally friendly bio-based energy alternatives. The Department of Transportation, Department of Energy, and the Department of Agriculture are partners in the initiative. The five centers were established at Land-Grant Universities to serve different geographic regions of the United States, in the tradition of the Congress-established programs of sea grant colleges in 1966, urban grant colleges in 1985, and space grant colleges in 1988.