Harvey Mudd College

Harvey Mudd College, doing business as HMC Business Affairs Dept, is a private non-profit research university in Claremont, California, that acts as a federal grant recipient (96% of awards) and subcontractor, conducting fundamental and applied research across science, engineering, and mathematics disciplines funded primarily by the National Science Foundation and the Department of the Air Force. The college competes in full-and-open federal research grant programs without set-aside designation, reflecting its classification as a tax-exempt educational institution.

Harvey Mudd's federal footprint centers on NSF research funding. The top five customer agencies by award count account for 62% of recent awards, led overwhelmingly by the National Science Foundation (71 awards), followed by the Department of the Air Force (20 awards), the Department of Commerce National Institute of Standards and Technology (11 awards), the Department of Education Office of Postsecondary Education (7 awards), and the Department of the Army (7 awards). The NASA Shared Services Center anchors the top-customer ranking by potential value with a $54,746 cooperative agreement for trustworthy speech-to-text evaluation framework development, though this single award represents only 13% of combined potential value across all active awards—indicating that Harvey Mudd's federal revenue is distributed across numerous smaller research grants rather than concentrated in large single awards.

Recent prime grant work demonstrates the college's research capability across computational science, biological sciences, and STEM education. A $4.999 million NSF cooperative agreement (CFDA 47.076, STEM Education) beginning September 2025 funds the National STEM Teacher Corps Pilot Program in Los Angeles, supporting 30 mathematics teachers in grades 4–12 with stipends, coaching, professional development, and National Board Certification support, reaching approximately 14,400 students over four years. A $573,378 NSF Biological Sciences grant (CFDA 47.074) awarded August 2026 supports research into genetic mechanisms regulating surface protein remodeling in Trypanosoma brucei, the African trypanosome parasite, with integrated undergraduate and high school educational participation. A $249,254 NSF Mathematical and Physical Sciences grant (CFDA 47.049) under the LEAPS-MPS initiative, awarded January 2026, funds geometric combinatorics research with substantial undergraduate research engagement through the Summer@Mudd Research Program. A $618,912 NSF Chemistry CAREER grant supports development of hybrid adaptive particle-field simulation methods for macromolecules in solution and a new computational chemistry course for first-year undergraduates.

Award activity has fluctuated over the past five years—five awards in 2022, rising to nine in 2025, with three recorded in 2026 year-to-date—suggesting modest portfolio growth but with high variability. Six awards face ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months and therefore present recompete opportunity for competing vendors. Harvey Mudd sits on two Air Force indefinite delivery contracts: IDC F0160089D0085 with 23 task orders and IDC N6600184C0209 with one task order, positioning the college as a recurring service provider on defense research vehicles.

In its subcontractor role, Harvey Mudd performs specialized research tasks under prime grantees including Oregon State University (forest natural capital valuation and hemp biobased economy research), Pomona College (sulfur(VI) fluoride exchange catalysis), Auburn University (digital electropenetrograph development for tick feeding research), Vanderbilt University (applied mathematics for classroom monitoring algorithms), and Georgia Tech Research Corporation (Joshua Tree National Park environmental instrumentation and training). Sub-award activity is modest (7 awards, 4% of total), with most sub-work awarded in 2023–2025.

Federal contract work is minimal relative to grant work. The college holds no government-wide acquisition contracts or schedules. The $54,746 NASA cooperative agreement represents the only named federal contract award in the recent portfolio, reflecting Harvey Mudd's positioning as a research institution competing primarily in federal grant programs rather than commercial procurement vehicles.