Research Foundation Of The City University Of New York

Research Foundation of the City University of New York, doing business as RFCUNY - York College, is a tax-exempt non-profit educational institution headquartered in Jamaica, New York, that serves as a federal grant recipient for research and workforce development programs across life sciences, computer science, and STEM education. RFCUNY - York College operates as a subsidiary of the City University of New York and acts exclusively as a prime grant recipient (90% of 99 recent awards) with no federal contract prime or sub positions in the source data.

The institution's grant footprint concentrates across the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and the Department of Education's Office of Postsecondary Education. NSF has funded 14 awards spanning biological sciences, computer science, and mathematics research; NIH has funded 10 awards in biomedical research; and ED/OPE has funded 17 awards in workforce development and postsecondary education improvement. The combined potential value across all awards stands at $1.3 million, though obligated dollars ($61.2 million) substantially exceed potential value, reflecting a mature portfolio of completed and near-completion awards. Recent representative work includes a $389,498 NSF Biological Sciences grant (CFDA 47.074) funding collaborative research on phonological interference in language and song learning in humans and zebra finches (May 2026–April 2029), a $362,141 NSF Computer and Information Science and Engineering grant (CFDA 47.070) in partnership with Stevens Institute of Technology investigating cybersecurity and privacy enhancement for artificial Internet of Things systems (January 2025–December 2027), a $680,700 Department of Defense Basic, Applied, and Advanced Research in Science and Engineering grant (CFDA 12.630) supporting multidisciplinary research in environmental sciences, engineering, materials science, and AI (September 2024–August 2025), and a $496,648 NIH National Institute of General Medical Sciences grant (CFDA 93.859) investigating Serum Amyloid A protein fibrillization in AA amyloidosis (September 2024–August 2027).

Workforce development grants include a $1,267,500 Department of Education Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education grant (CFDA 84.116) supporting geology student preparation for infrastructure jobs (July 2023–May 2026), an $850,000 similar FIPSE grant for pharmaceutical science and chemistry workforce pipeline development (June 2023–May 2026), a $527,000 Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration Workforce Step-Up grant training 339 individuals in healthcare, business, and human services (July 2023–June 2026), and a $2,000,000 FIPSE grant for the Holistic Study of Health Disparities Initiative (August 2022–July 2025). The institution also receives sub-awards from Cornell University for undergraduate summer research internships and from The Research Foundation for the State University of New York for small business development center operations.

Activity peaked in 2024 with 10 awards, declining to 3 in 2025 and 1 in 2026; three awards face completion within the next twenty-four months. The institution serves 28 distinct federal agencies, with concentration among ED/OPE (17 awards), NSF (14 awards), and NASA (14 awards), though NASA awards carry the lowest combined potential value at $967 thousand across 14 grants. RFCUNY - York College emphasizes training and mentoring underrepresented students—particularly low-income, urban, and minority populations—in STEM research, with structured integration of undergraduates and high school students into active research projects across biology, chemistry, discrete mathematics, astronomy, and neuroscience.