Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport System

The National Science Foundation Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems is a civilian sub-agency within NSF that administers federal research grants in chemical engineering, bioengineering, environmental science, and transport systems. The division operates almost exclusively through grant funding rather than procurement contracting; it has issued only one federal contract award since inception, closed in November 2016 for $184 thousand.

The division's primary activity is grant-making to academic research institutions. Across its portfolio history dating to 2001, the division has obligated $1.54 billion in federal dollars across 4,342 total grant awards to 361 distinct recipients. Recent grant activity has declined: 462 awards in 2023, 488 in 2024, 398 in 2025, and 323 in 2026, with 3 awards recorded so far in 2027. Virtually all awards are structured as Project Grants; six Cooperative Agreements appear across the entire portfolio. The most recent recorded award date is in March 2027.

Grant recipients are highly fragmented by award count, with the top five recipients holding just 9 percent of recent awards over the last five years. The Regents of the University of Michigan lead by count and by federal dollars, with 51 awards totaling $21.4 million. Purdue University, University of Texas at Austin, University of Illinois, and Pennsylvania State University each hold 36 to 40 awards in the recent window, ranging from $12.5 million to $14.9 million in federal obligations. By federal dollars, the University of Wisconsin System ranks second with 34 awards and $15.6 million, though its position by count places it outside the top five. The distribution remains highly fragmented by both count and dollars, reflecting the division's broad research mandate across multiple institutions.

No recent federal contract opportunities are recorded. No recent federal grant opportunities are recorded against the division's rollup in the source data. Prospective applicants should consult NSF's solicitation portal directly for current grant cycles.

The mission of the Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental and Transport Systems (CBET) Division is to support innovative research and education in the fields of chemical engineering, biotechnology, bioengineering, and environmental engineering, and in areas that involve the transformation and/or transport of matter and energy by chemical, thermal, or mechanical means.