Division of Physics

The National Science Foundation Division of Physics, a civilian sub-agency within the NSF, administers federal funding for physics research through grants and limited contract activity. The Division operates as the primary federal funding mechanism for university-based and institutional physics research across the United States.

The Division's grant portfolio dominates its transactional footprint. Since 2006, it has awarded 3,476 grants totaling $2.82 billion in federal dollars obligated across 350 distinct recipients. Recent activity shows consistent funding cadence: 275 awards in 2022, 266 in 2023, 298 in 2024, 201 in 2025, and 261 so far in 2026, with the most recent grant award recorded on October 1, 2026. Grants are overwhelmingly structured as Project Grants, which account for 3,443 of 3,476 awards (99%), with Cooperative Agreements comprising the remaining 1 percent.

Grant recipient concentration is highly fragmented. The top five recipients by award count hold only 11 percent of recent awards across the last five years, while the top five by federal dollars hold 12 percent. The University of Chicago, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Michigan State University lead by award count with 31, 30, and 28 awards respectively over that window. By federal dollars obligated, California Institute of Technology dominates with $164.5 million across 25 awards, followed by The Research Foundation For The State University Of New York at $60.6 million across 21 awards and The Trustees of Princeton University at $44 million across 23 awards.

Contract activity at the Division is minimal and dormant. The agency has issued only 5 total contract awards across its portfolio history, generating $194 thousand in combined potential value and $167 thousand in combined dollars obligated. All five awards were issued between 2017 and 2019 with no awards recorded since April 2019. The three distinct prime contractors awarded received awards open to full and open competition with no set-aside designations. The contract portfolio carries negligible decision relevance for pursuing contractor work.

No recent contract opportunities are recorded against the Division. For grant work, the Division maintains active solicitation; applicants should monitor NSF's grant-opportunity portal and the Division's program announcement calendar for project-grant competitions aligned with physics research priorities.

The Division of Physics covers research in the following major subfields: atomic, molecular and optical physics; elementary particle physics; nuclear physics; particle astrophysics; nuclear astrophysics; gravitational physics; plasma physics; physics of living systems; computational physics, and integrative activities.