The University Of Tulsa

The University of Tulsa Office of Research and Sponsored Programs Division operates as a federal research recipient and prime contractor delivering research and education services across materials science, cybersecurity, energy technology, environmental remediation, and STEM workforce development—performing 95 percent of its recent work as a prime grant recipient or contract prime rather than as a subcontractor. The institution is a private non-profit educational institution headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma, competing predominantly in full-and-open procurements without set-aside designations across its federal footprint.

The University's customer base is highly distributed across 83 distinct federal agencies, with research-focused concentration at the National Science Foundation (66 awards), Environmental Protection Agency (26 awards), and Department of Energy (17 awards), accounting for 40 percent of recent award count. By dollar magnitude, the Department of Homeland Security U.S. Secret Service leads with 15 awards valued at $9.2 million combined potential value, anchored by a $3.85 million firm-fixed-price definitive contract awarded September 2023 for Experiential Research and Education (ERE) curriculum development with an ultimate completion date of September 2028. The University holds an Other Transaction IDV with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) valued up to $7.5 million, awarded January 2024, for student intern services and research and development across materials science, information technology, and environmental remediation. Additional prime contract work includes $3.75 million definitive contracts with ERDC under two Broad Agency Announcements (BAA 22-0009 and BAA 22-0010) for virtual reality and smart installation experimentation, and a $2.2 million BAA 21-0040 contract for research across coastal engineering, geotechnical analysis, and environmental remediation.

The University's research grant portfolio spans NSF programs (Basic and Applied Scientific Research, Computer and Information Science and Engineering, Engineering, Materials Research, Division of Chemistry) with awards ranging from $120 thousand to $599 thousand, covering topics including coated powders for cold spray deposition, privacy-preserving data sharing for mobile internet measurement, lightweight AI in massive MIMO systems, AI-driven trading strategies for transactive energy systems, cybersecurity and crowdsourcing system design, materials for energy transition, generative AI scam detection, and human-AI collaboration in crowdwork. The University also receives Department of Defense basic scientific research funding ($1.5 million for ultra-high temperature materials, $598 thousand for snapping shrimp armor shock-wave damping) and operates as recipient of Department of Defense CyberCorps Scholarship for Service and Cyber Service Academy grants for cybersecurity workforce pipeline ($353 thousand awarded August 2025). The institution holds an NSF CyberCorps Scholarship for Service grant (active through July 2029) training the next generation of cybersecurity professionals through multiple technical and interdisciplinary tracks including a MacGyver track for intelligence community cyber operations and an interdisciplinary J.D. track combining law with systems and cyber courses. Recent NSF STEM Education grants support development of qualitative research methods for science identity assessment ($349 thousand) and investigation of barriers to Tulsa Regional Science Fair participation among underrepresented students ($139 thousand).

Activity trended upward from 2022 to 2024 (14 awards in 2022 to 19 in 2024), stabilized at 18 in 2025, with 5 awards recorded to date in 2026. Fifteen awards with ultimate completion in the next twenty-four months carry combined potential value of $1.2 million and face recompete. The University's subcontractor role is minimal; it subcontracts to Purdue University on the SCALE microelectronic workforce development project and receives sub-grants from multiple universities (University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State University, Southern Methodist University) as a performer on collaborative NSF projects focused on interpretable AI for intersection detection and signal optimization, perovskite solar cells, and water and carbon sustainability research. Service Contract Inventory captures minimal federal service contract activity—SCI-reported invoicing of $468 thousand across FY2022 and FY2023 (zero in FY2024) covering 3.4 and 4.7 FTEs respectively at median government-paid rates around $28.35/hr, reflecting a research institution model dominated by grant-funded faculty and student research rather than billable staffing arrangements. The institution's corporate structure includes the parent University of Tulsa and subsidiary Gilcrease Museum Management Trust.