Museum Of Science

Museum Of Science, a tax-exempt nonprofit organization headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, develops STEM education content, planetarium shows, digital learning resources, and science communications materials for federal agencies as a grant recipient and occasional contractor, operating primarily under prime federal grants (90% of recent awards) rather than competitive contracting.

Museum Of Science's federal footprint spans 88 awards across 21 customer agencies, with combined obligated dollars of $87.8 million against a combined potential value of $8.6 million—a pattern reflecting long-running grant programs with multi-year cycles rather than discrete contract awards. The National Science Foundation leads by award count with 19 grants, followed by the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science (13 awards) and the Department of Defense Education Activity (12 awards); by dollar potential, NASA Goddard Space Center anchors the portfolio at $2.5 million, with NASA Shared Services Center adding $2.4 million across nine awards, and NASA Headquarters contributing $857 thousand. Institute of Museum and Library Services ranks fourth by count with nine awards. The top five customers account for 70% of all awards and 71% of combined potential value, indicating modest concentration with a distributed base of federal education and science agencies.

Recent prime grant work includes a $1.5 million National Leadership Grants award from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (CFDA 45.312) for the Advancing AI in America (A3) initiative, running October 2025 through September 2027, which develops five new interactive AI exhibition components, AI-themed STEM career fairs, and educator resources designed for nationwide replication across schools and museums. Museum Of Science also holds a $799,973 NASA Shared Services Center cooperative agreement for the UNITED project—a 2.5-year effort (completed November 2025) that produced a feature-length fulldome planetarium show, educator guides, and digital resources amplifying the voices of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color in space exploration, targeting BIPOC youth ages 12–17. A $500 thousand project grant from NASA Shared Services Center for Building a Pathway to Belonging (July 2023 through June 2025) supports initiatives reducing barriers to STEM participation among historically underrepresented communities. Earlier work includes a $262,141 project grant from the Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration for a feasibility study on pedestrian connectivity at the Riverwalk at Science Park in Boston, and a $303,565 NSF Engineering program grant for the Youth Engineering Solutions project, developing equity-oriented engineering curricula for English learners in out-of-school settings.

Museum Of Science subcontracts with research universities on NSF and NIH-funded initiatives—including work under Trustees of Tufts College on the Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) collaboration for inclusive science communications events on medical research topics (subaward dated November 2025), on Regents of the University of Michigan engineering ethics research for bioengineered organoid computing (October 2024), on University of Texas at Arlington's Building the Epistemology of Engineering for Students with Extensive Support Needs (July 2024), and on Arizona State University's Consortium for Community Engagement Innovation and Learning on Consent-Based Siting (January 2024). The organization also holds one federal contract—a $9,900 definitive contract with the Smithsonian Institution for COVES membership through September 2027 (award date September 19, 2026).

Award volume has remained low in recent years (one to seven awards annually from 2022 to 2025), with only one award recorded in 2026. Two awards face ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months, carrying a combined potential value of $10 thousand and minimal recompete risk. The organization's activity centers on K–12 and public STEM education, science communication, planetarium content development, and experiential learning design, with secondary engagement in museum operations, infrastructure assessment, and collaborative research with academic institutions.