Kennesaw State University Research And Service Foundation, Inc.

Kennesaw State University Research and Service Foundation, Inc., Office of Research Division (doing business as KSU Research and Service Foundation), is a tax-exempt nonprofit research organization based in Kennesaw, Georgia, that serves as the prime recipient of federal research grants and performs subordinate research roles across 65 distinct federal agencies, primarily competing on full-and-open federal grant opportunities rather than set-asides. The foundation operates as an auxiliary entity of Kennesaw State University, supporting faculty-led research, graduate and undergraduate student training, and knowledge dissemination across STEM and social science disciplines.

KSU Research and Service Foundation's federal footprint is overwhelmingly grant-driven. The portfolio includes 248 total awards spanning contracts and grants (2007 to present), with 75% as prime awards and 25% as subawards. Recent activity shows 41 awards in both 2024 and 2025, and 21 in 2026, demonstrating sustained grant volume. The foundation competes and receives funding across a diversified customer base, with the National Science Foundation (NSF) accounting for the largest concentration by award count (63 awards), followed by specialized NSF divisions including Undergraduate Education (16 awards), Information and Intelligent Systems (7 awards), and divisions supporting engineering, materials science, physics, and computing research. Non-NSF federal customers include the Department of Education Office of Postsecondary Education (8 awards), the Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Victims of Crime (7 awards), the Department of Defense Research Development and Engineering Command, the Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Representative prime grant work spans STEM education, engineering research, artificial intelligence, materials science, and social science. Recent examples include a $734,059 NSF STEM Education grant investigating multi-construct task value interventions to enhance engineering student motivation and career readiness; a $356,782 NSF Computer and Information Science and Engineering award developing methods for efficient and secure execution of AI services on vehicle computing systems; a $313,827 NSF Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences grant investigating artisanal alcohol production, economic resilience, and cultural heritage preservation; a $220,249 Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service award monitoring tri-colored bat genetics and white-nose syndrome connectivity across the southern United States; and multiple $199,000–$199,999 NSF Engineering Research Initiation (ERI) grants addressing topics including soft robotics education, hydrogen-assisted metal oxide growth for energy storage, strain effects on carbon nanostructure thermal transport, and micro-Doppler sensing for vehicle-to-everything communication. Federal grant funding also supports workforce development through Upward Bound Math and Science programs, teacher professional development in STEM and multilingual education, and undergraduate research experiences in emerging technology domains including quantum computing, neuromorphic computing, and extended reality systems.

On the federal contract side, the foundation has secured limited federal contracting activity relative to its grant volume. Notable prime contract awards include a $249,839 firm-fixed-price contract from the Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences for a two-year project on acceptance and commitment training for leader development (titled "PROACT"), running September 2024 through September 2026, and a $55,616 firm-fixed-price purchase order from the Army Corps of Engineers' Engineer Research and Development Center for an independent technical review of concrete pavement design systems (C-FLEX and C-SLAB), completed June 2024. Neither contract carried a set-aside designation. The foundation does not hold direct seats on major federal GWACs or agency-wide IDIQs; rather, it accesses federal funding through open NSF solicitations, agency-specific BAAs (Broad Agency Announcements), and targeted grant programs.

The foundation acts as a subaward recipient in collaborative research consortia. Recent subaward partnerships include work under Georgia State University Research Foundation as prime grantee on evaluation activities for behavioral health initiatives and workforce development programs; collaboration with The Pennsylvania State University on a verified probabilistic cognitive reasoning project for tactical mixed reality systems; and subaward participation under the University of Missouri System on data integration and innovation platforms for food security. On the contract side, the foundation subcontracts to Booz Allen Hamilton on academic research and applied research services.

Grant activity demonstrates breadth across NSF directorates and programs: the Division of Undergraduate Education (STEM education, teacher preparation, inclusive engineering curriculum); the Division of Information and Intelligent Systems (machine learning, federated learning, brain-computer interfaces, cancer imaging AI); the Division of Civil, Mechanical, and Manufacturing Innovation (soft robotics, vehicle dynamics, disaster response systems, energy storage); the Division of Engineering Education and Centers (perspective-taking in engineering, communication skills); the Division of Computing and Communication Foundations (quantum machine learning, wireless edge computing, game-playing AI); the Division of Mathematical Sciences (quantum power systems, nonlinear waves in discrete media); the Division of Chemistry; the Division of Physics; and the Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences. The foundation also receives funding from NSF special programs including the Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP), NSF Early Career Development (CAREER) awards, NSF Engineering Research Initiation (ERI), NSF Conference awards for student travel to quantum computing conferences, and NSF I-Corps programs supporting commercialization of research innovations.

Twenty-five awards are scheduled for completion within the next twenty-four months and will face recompete risk. The foundation's research outputs and partnerships signal competitive strengths in interdisciplinary STEM education innovation, experimental AI systems, materials characterization, and evaluation research, positioning it for sustained federal research funding particularly through NSF's education and STEM workforce development programs, though limited federal contracting experience outside the Army indicates minimal competitive presence in the federal procurement market relative to the grant landscape.