Lewis University

Lewis University Aviation Flight Division, a private, tax-exempt Catholic educational institution headquartered in Romeoville, Illinois, operates as a federal grant recipient (93% of recent awards) rather than a federal contractor, delivering aviation maintenance technical education, STEM faculty professional development, and student mental health and safety services to federal education and health agencies. The division has no federal contract prime awards and does not sit on government-wide acquisition vehicles; its federal footprint derives entirely from project grants and cooperative agreements with the National Science Foundation, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Defense, the Department of the Army, and FEMA.

Lewis University's educational and research mission anchors its federal work to NSF, HHS, and campus-based programming. As a grant recipient, Lewis University delivered $218,502 from NSF's Division of Undergraduate Education under CFDA 47.076 for an inquiry-based chemistry laboratory teaching-faculty professional development program running through June 30, 2031, recruiting 60 chemistry faculty from two- and four-year institutions to modernize laboratory experiments and embed authentic research experiences. The university received $1,490,929 from NSF for PROJECT SYNERGY (CFDA 47.076, January 15, 2022 through December 31, 2027), developing interdisciplinary connections at the interface of chemistry, physics, engineering, and data science in undergraduate STEM coursework. Lewis also holds a $205,932 NSF project grant from the Division of Engineering Education and Centers (CFDA 47.041, ended December 31, 2023) for an IoT-enabled smart learning environment to assess socio-technical skills in engineering students. On the HHS side, Lewis University received a Nurse Faculty Loan Program grant from the Bureau of Health Professionals (awarded July 1, 2023, extending through June 30, 2099) to provide tuition assistance to 11–26 nursing students annually pursuing Doctor of Nursing Practice, Master of Science in Nursing Nurse Education, and Master of Science in Nursing Nurse Practitioner degrees, with up to 85% loan forgiveness for qualified borrowers who serve as nurse faculty.

Aviation-specific federal work centers on the Aviation Flight Division's Project S.O.A.R. (Supporting Opportunities in Aviation Resilience), a cooperative agreement from the FAA's Eastern Region awarded March 4, 2024 (ultimate completion March 4, 2026), focused on increasing the number, diversity, and career readiness of aviation maintenance professionals from underrepresented backgrounds—women, Hispanic, African American, first-generation, and low-income students—across the Chicagoland area. The project recruits and enrolls two 18-person cohorts into Lewis University's FAA-approved Aviation Maintenance Technician School to earn A&P certification and potentially pursue associate or bachelor degrees in aviation maintenance. The division partners with St. Augustine College (a Hispanic-serving institution), Township High School District 214, Will County Area Career Center, and the CPASS Foundation for recruitment in economically disadvantaged communities.

Recent grant activity shows decline: three awards in 2021 and 2022, seven in 2023, five in 2024, and two in 2026. Three awards face ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months. Lewis University also receives sub-awards under larger federal grants from the Illinois Community College Board (January 6, 2026, general operating support for adult education), George Washington University on shared decision-making research (awarded August 2, 2023, and renewed November 4, 2024), and the Warehouse Workers Justice Center (January 1, 2024) for air-quality sensor deployment and data collection work. The combined potential value across all 58 awards (54 prime, 4 sub) is listed at $38 thousand, though obligated dollars ($43.9 million) suggest a data-reporting anomaly in the source's potential-value field; the actual federal dollar commitments to Lewis University substantially exceed the potential-value figure.