Research Foundation Of The City University Of New York

Research Foundation of the City University of New York, operating as RFCUNY – Queensborough Community College, is a tax-exempt educational institution and research arm of CUNY that serves as a federal grant recipient (85% of recent awards are prime grant awards) across STEM education, workforce development, and undergraduate research initiatives. The organization operates as a subsidiary of The City University of New York and competes in full-and-open federal grant competitions without set-aside designation.

RFCUNY's grant portfolio centers on applied STEM curriculum development, research mentoring for community college students, and workforce pipeline programs. Representative work includes a $457,927 National Science Foundation Division of Astronomical Sciences award (funded May 1, 2026, performance through April 30, 2029) to operate a Research Experiences for Undergraduates site serving up to twelve community college students annually in physics and astronomy research across black holes, biophysics, cosmic ray detection, X-ray spectroscopy, and planetary science; a $649,008 NSF STEM Education Program grant (awarded September 1, 2024, completion August 31, 2027) for infusing climate change curriculum into mechanical and electrical engineering technology programs through ten integrated educational modules; and a $300,000 grant from NASA's Shared Services Center (awarded June 1, 2024, completion May 31, 2026) to develop STEM curriculum and experiential learning aligned with heliophysics goals under project "Expanding Heliophysics Scientific Discovery Through Helioanalytics."

Customer concentration clusters on National Science Foundation awards (14 awards across Divisions of Astronomical Sciences and Undergraduate Education), which dominate both volume and dollars alongside work with the National Endowment for the Humanities (6 awards) and NASA through the Shared Services Center (6 awards, $1.4 million combined potential value). RFCUNY also holds active grants from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (3 awards, including a $649,008 Bridges to Baccalaureate Research Training Program award through July 31, 2029, building on a prior 2002–2023 partnership between Queensborough, Queens College, and City College to advance biomedical research access) and the National Nuclear Security Administration (radiation safety professional development pathway, awarded October 1, 2023, completion September 30, 2028).

RFCUNY operates as a prime recipient on 85% of awards and a sub-recipient on 15%, including sub-work under Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (DNA Subway 2.0 faculty mentoring networks, NSF grant), Columbia University (data science seminar development, 2025; Mandarin podcast teaching contest, 2024), New York State Education Department (Perkins CTE vocational education grants), and the Research Foundation for SUNY (BioPREP biology partnership). Recent activity spans 55 total awards with combined obligated dollars of $33.3 million against $1.4 million in combined potential value, reflecting mature multi-year grant execution. Two awards reach completion within the next twenty-four months, presenting limited near-term recompete exposure. Place of performance is Oakland Gardens, Queens, New York, with work serving community college students across the New York vicinity and broader STEM education and workforce development goals aligned with NSF, NIH, and federal agency priorities in underrepresented-group recruitment and retention in STEM disciplines.