The University Of Akron

The University Of Akron Office Of Research Administration Division is a public research institution in Akron, Ohio that receives federal research grants and executes federal research contracts as a prime recipient across civilian agencies, with 95% of recent awards arriving as prime research grants or contracts rather than subcontracts. The institution does not compete under set-aside designations and operates as a full-and-open research performer across the federal landscape.

The Office of Research Administration executes applied and basic research across materials science, polymer engineering, aerospace systems, environmental studies, and biomedical technologies. Representative prime work includes a $290,021 firm fixed-price contract from an unnamed civilian federal agency for development of human factor training modules (awarded September 2024, completion September 2026), a $448,872 Office of Naval Research BAA award for research and development on advanced materials including a subcontract to Teledyne Scientific & Imaging for ceramic matrix composite specimens (awarded March 2023, completion December 2024), and a $556,165 NASA grant for research on the Biomass Enumerator and Geochemical/Limnological Explorer (BEAGLE) in Europa-analog environments (awarded November 2022, completion December 2024). Recent grant activity spans federal research programs including NSF (256 awards), Air Force (37 awards), NASA Glenn Research Center (28 awards, $12.8 million combined potential value), Army (27 awards), and Navy (25 awards). The top five customer agencies account for 47% of recent awards, with NSF dominating both volume and diversity of funding mechanisms. By dollar value, NASA Glenn ($12.8 million), NASA Shared Services Center ($2.6 million), and NIST ($727 thousand) lead the portfolio.

The institution's recent grant footprint reflects heavy concentration in basic and applied research. NSF project grants fund work in distributed computing for AI, polymer science and engineering, materials characterization, flow control, and biomimetic robotics across its Division of Chemistry, Engineering, Materials Research, and Geosciences programs. Representative NSF grants include $450,000 for collaborative research on hydrophilic macroions using analytical ultracentrifugation and X-ray scattering at Argonne (CFDA 47.049, awarded September 2026, completion August 2029); $538,741 from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for cytochrome P450 enzyme studies targeting tuberculosis drug design (CFDA 93.855, awarded August 2026, completion July 2029); $554,078 from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences for single-molecule photoredox catalysis imaging for drug synthesis (awarded June 2026, completion May 2029); and $800,000 from NSF's Division of Engineering Education and Centers for a Track 3 broadening participation program training diverse Ph.D. students and postdoctoral researchers for engineering faculty careers (awarded September 2024, completion August 2029). The institution also holds interdisciplinary research partnerships—for example, as a consortia member in the Center for Tire Research (CENTIRE), a Phase III Industry-University Cooperative Research Center partnered with Virginia Tech (awarded May 2022, completion April 2027).

Award velocity shows modest recent activity: 31 awards in 2022, 20 in 2023, 24 in 2024, 21 in 2025, and 14 through early 2026. Twenty-three awards (combined potential value not separately specified in recompete window) reach ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months. The institution subcontracts to prime grantees including Marquette University (coating service life prediction research), Rutgers University (invasive tick genomics), Pennsylvania State University (cardiac patch collaboration), and Case Western Reserve University on research spanning materials engineering, water equity assessment, and healthcare education. The Office of Research Administration also participates in NSF I-Corps Hub programming and industry-university cooperative research networks, with workforce development and STEM education components embedded across most grants. Performance of work occurs in Akron, Ohio, with subordinate research sites at partner institutions (Argonne National Laboratory, University of Chicago, University of Tokyo, Nagoya University).