James Madison University

James Madison University's University Business Office functions as a federal grant recipient and sub-recipient across a broad portfolio of civilian research and education programs, with no prime contract awards and minimal sub-contract engagement. The university operates as a state-controlled institution of higher education headquartered in Harrisonburg, Virginia, and competes for federal funding on a full-and-open basis across predominantly civilian agencies without set-aside designations.

JMU's federal footprint centers on research grants and educational initiatives funded through the National Science Foundation, Department of Education, and subordinate civilian agencies including NASA, the National Institutes of Health, and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Representative prime grant work includes a $400,000 NSF Division of Undergraduate Education award to develop AI-supported teaching simulations for pre-service elementary science teachers; a $750,000 National Institute of Food and Agriculture (CFDA 10.310) grant for a Smart Growing Curriculum integrating artificial intelligence with real-world farming for middle school students; and a $2.736 million Department of Education Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education award for the Better Conversations Together initiative supporting campus free speech and deliberation practices, with the National Issues Forums Institute named as a sub-recipient. Scientific research grants include a $870,218 NSF Biological Sciences award investigating obscurin's role as a mechanotransducer in cellular migration, a $633,589 NSF-funded study of starch degradation regulation in Arabidopsis, and a $502,940 project on fibrosis and angiogenesis mechanisms. JMU also holds a $2.12 million Department of Education grant for Youth Deliberation for America 250, a $996,879 NSF Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships award for the PIVOTS rural AI workforce development program, and a $3.5 million Environmental Protection Agency grant for the Mid-Atlantic NOx Reduction II (MANOR II) project replacing 72 diesel trucks with compressed natural gas vehicles across Pennsylvania, Maryland, and the region.

The National Science Foundation anchors JMU's award concentration, representing 105 awards (21 percent of total awards) across education, biological sciences, engineering, mathematical sciences, and integrative activities programs. The Department of Education Office of Elementary and Secondary Education ranks second with 24 awards; the Department of State Bureau of Political Military Affairs contributes 28 awards valued at $23 thousand in combined potential value, focused on international educational and training partnerships including capacity building with the Republic of Tajikistan's Regional Education and Human Training Center and academic exchanges under the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI). NASA's Shared Services Center carries the highest concentration of dollar value among top customers, with 16 awards totaling $2 million in combined potential value, spanning climate modeling, astrophysical research, and earth science applications. The Department of Defense (Air Force Air Education and Training Command and Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery) represents $309 thousand across 18 awards, primarily for cyber service academy scholarships and vestibular research.

Activity has remained consistent across the last five years, ranging from 23 to 36 awards annually, with 23 awards in 2026 year-to-date. Obligated dollars ($266.4 million across all awards) substantially exceed combined potential value ($3.3 million), indicating that most awards in the portfolio represent fully-funded, completed, or ongoing grants rather than contract ceilings. Twenty awards with combined potential value of $727 thousand reach ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months, creating recompete opportunity across NSF education and scientific research programs.

In its sub-award capacity, JMU acts as sub-recipient under grants from George Mason University (Virginia Small Business Development Center network management, $248 thousand obligated), Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (DNA Observatory course-based undergraduate research experiences), Concord Consortium (geospatial technology research), the Commonwealth of Virginia State Board of Education (Title I migrant education, Title IV 21st Century Community Learning Centers, IDEA special education), the University of Vermont (autism and narrative comprehension research), Duke University (vestibular and falls risk in older adults), the University of Florida (tomato mutant evaluation), and the University of Montana (YSEALI Academic Fellowship). JMU also subcontracts on a small federal contract footprint: a DARPA-funded Biological Undersea Energy Program (BLUE) sub-task under the University of Maryland, College Park, and an Institute of International Education grant sub-award for international educational programming.

Federal grant work spans NSF divisions covering STEM education (teacher preparation, undergraduate research experiences, equipment acquisition), biological sciences (plant metabolism, bioenergetics, bat microbiome conservation, mathematical biology), geosciences (flash drought, paleoanthropology, geological mapping), engineering education (prototyping pedagogy, spatial learning), mathematical sciences (optimization algorithms, noncommutative function theory, curvature geometry), and physics (subatomic measurements at Jefferson Lab). Department of Education awards concentrate on workforce development (special education personnel, paraprofessional teacher residency, postsecondary improvement), civics and deliberation initiatives, and student support programs (GEAR UP, Talent Search, Upward Bound, TRIO). The Smithsonian Institution, Army Corps of Engineers Humphreys Engineer Center Support Activity, and EPA Region 3 represent the limited federal contract customer base, with work valued under $144 thousand per award and focused on student laboratory training and environmental remediation.