Converse University

Converse University, a tax-exempt private university headquartered in Spartanburg, South Carolina, acts as a prime recipient of federal research and education grants from the National Science Foundation, the Department of Education, and the Department of the Army, with minimal subcontract exposure (8% of recent awards). The institution competes in the full-and-open federal grant market rather than set-aside categories and operates primarily as a grant recipient rather than a federal contractor.

Converse's recent federal footprint centers on STEM research and K–12 teacher professional development. The National Science Foundation awarded Converse $190,000 in September 2026 (CFDA 47.049, Mathematical and Physical Sciences program) for a collaborative project with the University of South Carolina to design stimuli-responsive charge-transfer complexes for molecular sensing, running through August 2029 and expanding undergraduate research opportunities while developing classroom demonstration materials. In March 2023, the National Science Foundation funded a BIORETS site award supporting the training of 24 middle and high school teachers over three years through six-week summer and ten-week academic-year cohorts, with instruction in cellular and molecular biology and neurobiology focused on teachers in underserved schools across upstate South Carolina. Converse also serves as a sub-recipient under an NIH INBRE (Institutional Development Award) award from the University of South Carolina (February 2026), administering an undergraduate research initiative and faculty fellowship program in biomedical sciences targeting underrepresented and economically disadvantaged students.

The institution has served nine federal agencies across thirteen awards since 2003, with concentration in the Department of Education Office of Postsecondary Education (3 awards), the National Endowment for the Humanities (2 awards), and the Department of the Army (2 awards). Awards obligated total $9.5 million, and activity has been episodic—one award in 2010, one in 2018, three in 2020, one in 2023, and two in 2026—reflecting the grant-cycle nature of higher-education federal funding rather than sustained contract volume. Converse does not hold seats on government-wide contract vehicles or IDIQs and does not compete as a federal contractor.