Emporia State University

Emporia State University, a publicly controlled institution of higher learning based in Emporia, Kansas, is a federal grant recipient (85% of recent awards as prime recipient) conducting research, workforce development, and student support services across education, science, and STEM training programs. The university does not hold federal contracts or contract vehicles; all federal engagement flows through competitive grants from civilian research and education agencies.

Emporia State's federal footprint centers on Department of Education TRIO programs and National Science Foundation research initiatives. The Department of Education's Office of Postsecondary Education accounts for twenty awards across TRIO Student Support Services (serving low-income and first-generation students, and students with disabilities), TRIO McNair (preparing underrepresented students for doctoral study), and Upward Bound (serving sixty eligible participants). The National Science Foundation has awarded five grants including a $244,335 EPSCOR Research Fellows project (CFDA 47.083) running through December 2028 to support ultrafast photochemical dynamics research combining attosecond coincidence spectroscopy and high-repetition-rate pump-probe measurements, with collaboration from Kansas State University and training for undergraduate students. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration Shared Services Center has awarded four grants totaling $147,000 under the ROSES (Research Opportunities in Space Earth Sciences) program (CFDA 43.001) supporting research in astrophysics, planetary science, heliophysics, and Earth system science through January 2028. The Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service Region 6 has funded three awards including a cooperative agreement supporting riparian vegetation and aquatic habitat surveys at Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve and a paleontological resources project with the Bureau of Land Management for fossil preparation, display design, and collection cataloging completed in September 2024.

Recent awards span STEM workforce development and applied research. A $352,530 TRIO Student Support Services grant (CFDA 84.042) effective through August 2026 funds tutoring, academic advising, career counseling, and financial literacy for students with disabilities. A $272,364 companion TRIO SSS award also targets the disability population through September 2026. A National Institute of Standards and Technology project grant completed in September 2024 equipped and staffed a cybersecurity center at the university's School of Business to address Kansas workforce shortages, with objectives to increase students holding cybersecurity credentials by 25% and reach 500 community members in outreach programming. Recent sub-award work includes participation in Wichita State University's NSF-funded research on intermetallic synthesis and machine learning prediction tools, collaboration with University of Kansas Medical Center Research Institute on clinical trial recruitment and data collection, and engagement with Kansas State Department of Education on AmeriCorps formula grants.

Activity has slowed in recent years — five awards in 2024, two in 2025, one in 2026 — with three awards (combined potential value $147,000) reaching completion inside the next twenty-four months. Eighteen federal agencies have engaged Emporia State as a grant recipient or sub-recipient, though the Department of Education's Office of Postsecondary Education and the National Science Foundation represent the dominant funding sources by award count.