Austin Peay State University

Austin Peay State University, a state-controlled institution of higher learning headquartered in Clarksville, Tennessee, receives federal grants as a prime recipient (88% of recent awards) and as a sub-recipient in environmental science, STEM education research, and workforce development programs. The university is a subsidiary of the Board of Regents Tennessee, which oversees Tennessee's state higher-education system.

Austin Peay's federal footprint centers on research and educational grants rather than contracts. The Department of Education's Office of Postsecondary Education and the National Science Foundation lead by award count, with 13 and 10 awards respectively, accounting for 44% of recent awards across the top five funding agencies. The Department of the Interior's National Park Service (Southeast Region, National Office) and Fish and Wildlife Service Region 4 together account for 17 awards. Combined obligated dollars across all recent awards total $106.4 million against a potential value of $550 thousand, indicating that the university's award portfolio reflects mostly completed or heavily obligated work.

Recent capability work includes a $16,793 NASA grant (awarded April 2025, completing April 2026) for balanced science programming in lunar and Mars exploration research; a $158,776 National Science Foundation Research Initiation Project Grant (awarded July 2026, completing June 2028) examining engineering identity formation among military-veteran undergraduate students in capstone design; an NSF-funded RED (Revolutionizing Engineering Departments) Planning project (awarded October 2025, completing September 2027) to clarify pathways between engineering and engineering technology for military-affiliated students; and a $318,277 Department of Education TRIO Student Support Services grant (awarded September 2025, completing August 2026) delivering retention and completion support to low-income, first-generation, and students with disabilities.

Environmental and ecological restoration work anchors a secondary capability stream. The Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service has awarded multiple cooperative agreements for grassland restoration, native seed collection, and habitat conservation across the Southeast. A $2.045 million Department of Agriculture Conservation Stewardship Program cooperative agreement (awarded September 2023, completing September 2028) supports the Working Lands for Wildlife Northern Bobwhite, Grasslands, and Savannas framework, with deliverables including ecosystem assessments, habitat mapping, native plant seed distribution, and habitat management plans. Multiple National Park Service cooperative agreements fund floristic inventories, grassland restoration strategies, and habitat assessments at national monuments and parks including Natchez Trace Parkway, Mill Springs Battlefield, Camp Nelson, Richmond National Battlefield, and Harpers Ferry. The NSF Division of Emerging Frontiers funded a $502,986 project grant (awarded August 2022, completing July 2025) on indirect genetic effects in burying beetles using genome-wide association studies and whole-genome sequencing.

Austin Peay acts as a sub-recipient on federally funded work through Middle Tennessee State University (Tennessee Small Business Development Center Service Center operations, awarded January 2026), the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (grassland reconstruction and restoration projects, awarded June 2023 and August 2025), the Association of Public Health Laboratories (Career Pathways program development for diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging, awarded October 2024), and the Tennessee Department of Health (epidemiology laboratory capacity and health surveillance programs, awarded multiple times between 2022 and 2024).

Eleven awards face completion or recompete within the next twenty-four months. Activity has remained steady at five to ten awards annually over the past five years, with recent awards concentrated in STEM and environmental research funding lines. The university does not hold federal contract vehicles (GWACs, IDIQs, BPAs) as a prime; two task-order vehicles appear in the portfolio under Air Force and Army contracts, reflecting sub-recipient activity rather than the university's prime capability.