Bowling Green State University

Bowling Green State University, a public research institution headquartered in Bowling Green, Ohio, operates as a federal grant recipient and prime contractor across civilian research and education missions, with 84 percent of recent awards held as prime grants and contracts and 16 percent as sub-awards. The university competes full-and-open, not under set-asides, and operates across research and education NAICS categories including colleges and universities (primary) and research and development in physical, engineering, and life sciences.

BGSU's federal footprint is dominated by research grants rather than contracts. The National Science Foundation leads by award count (80 grants), followed by the Department of Education's Office of Postsecondary Education (19 awards) and the National Institutes of Health (15 awards, plus an additional 12 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development). These three sources account for 42 percent of BGSU's 330 total awards. However, a single massive outlier reshapes the dollar picture: the Department of the Navy accounts for 97 percent of the combined potential value across all awards—$147.1 million spread across six awards, anchored by an Indefinite Delivery Contract (F0160079D0307) valued at up to $147.05 million for the United States Naval Community College Partnerships program. This vehicle generated eight task orders. Beneath the Navy's scale, NSF and Department of Education awards collectively represent most remaining grant activity and measurably smaller dollar values.

BGSU's recent contract work includes a $620,883 firm-fixed-price award from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Engineer Research and Development Center (awarded September 2024) for Year 2 field validation of a sandwich hybridization assay panel to detect toxin-producing freshwater cyanobacteria in Lake Erie and inland Ohio lakes, with subcontractor support from the Research Foundation of The City University of New York's Advanced Science Research Center. The university also holds a $17,945 purchase order from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (awarded September 2024, termination-for-convenience notice issued) to evaluate a workplace tool, and a $20,000 purchase order from the Office of Research and Development (November 2021) for technical expert services on dietary intake assessment of omega-3 fatty acids in clinical study. These represent low-dollar contract activity relative to the grant portfolio.

Federal grant work spans NSF programs in mathematics, physical sciences, materials research, chemistry, polar programs, and computer science; Department of Education programs including STEM education, postsecondary education support (TRIO Student Support Services, McNair Program, Upward Bound, Educational Talent Search), teacher preparation, and civics education; NIH programs in child health and development, aging, deafness and communication disorders, general medical sciences, allergy and infectious disease, and heart/lung/blood institute research; Department of Justice's National Institute of Justice (juvenile justice longitudinal research); NOAA's oceanographic and water-quality monitoring; the National Endowment for the Arts; NIST's cybersecurity workforce development; and the Missile Defense Agency (STEM robotics kit grants). Representative grant awards include $301,977 from the Air Force Research Laboratory (July 2026) for opto-mechanical luminescence switching for sensing; $370,930 from NIDCD (May 2026) for aphasia intervention research; $620,539 from Department of Education (October 2025) for the BGSU Cultivating Informed Voices in Classrooms 250 civics education project; $388,744 from NSF (September 2025) for nanocrystal quantum photonics research; $250,000 from NSF (September 2025) for photoswitch chemistry under the LEAPS-MPS early-career program; $702,625 from the Office of Postsecondary Education (September 2025) for TRIO Student Support Services; and $536,121 from NSF (September 2025) for coherent infrared emission from colloidal quantum wells.

BGSU holds a subcontractor position on two active SBIR Phase I and Phase II awards with Creare LLC: self-healing radiator coolant tubes for spacecraft thermal control (Phase II awarded August 2025, Phase I awarded August 2024). The university also serves as a sub-recipient on multiple grant awards, including from Cincinnati University (biology-meets-engineering STEM education, amendments through February 2025), Ohio State University (Center for Aging Families interdisciplinary research; aquaculture and salmonid research in Lake Erie), Rutgers University (machine learning in cancer mortality research), University of Michigan (winter nitrogen cycling in Lake Erie), City of Toledo (community violence prevention program evaluation), Ohio Department of Mental Health (Engage 3.0 platform), and numerous Ohio state education and workforce agencies.

Activity has remained steady year over year from 2022 to 2025 (25, 15, 29, and 29 awards respectively, with three awards recorded in 2026 as of mid-July). Twenty awards face ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months, carrying combined potential value of $621 thousand and representing modest recompete exposure relative to the overall portfolio. The university's grant work emphasizes fundamental and applied research in chemistry, nanomaterials, photonics, environmental science, public health, workforce development, and education innovation, with extensive student training and community engagement embedded across projects. Federal investment in BGSU has generated $255.3 million in actual obligated funds against $151.6 million in combined potential value, indicating consistent utilization of awarded capacity.