University Of Scranton

University Of Scranton Office Of The Treasurer Division, a private Jesuit research institution based in Scranton, Pennsylvania, operates as a federal grant recipient conducting space physics and ionospheric research, STEM education initiatives, workforce development, and infrastructure projects across 29 federal agencies as a prime recipient (72% of awards) and as a sub-recipient (28%) under federal grant programs. The university does not hold federal contracts or contract vehicles; its federal footprint is exclusively grant-funded.

The university's capability portfolio centers on space weather and ionospheric research leveraging citizen science methodologies, particularly amateur radio observations. Representative prime recipient work includes a $568,117 NASA Science program grant (CFDA 43.001) awarded February 2026 through January 2029 to execute a balanced science program aligned with National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine guidance; a $296,281 grant from a civilian agency's Shared Services Center awarded September 2023 for the Solar Eclipse QSO Party 2.0 project using amateur radio citizen science to study ionospheric effects during the 2024 solar eclipse; and a $481,260 NASA grant awarded August 2021 for research on Traveling Ionospheric Disturbances and their impact on high-frequency radio communications. The university also operates the HAM Radio Science Citizen Investigation (HAMSCI) workshop series, receiving NSF funding to convene professional and amateur radio communities around space physics and citizen science collaboration. Beyond space science, the university has received a $16.5 million Department of Commerce National Institute of Standards and Technology Congressionally-Identified Projects grant (CFDA 11.617) awarded September 2023 for construction of a 65,000-square-foot Center for Workforce Development and Applied Research in Health, Science and Cyber Security, and a $2.7 million Appalachian Regional Commission area development grant (CFDA 23.002) awarded October 2024 for educational achievement and attainment initiatives.

Customer concentration is heavily skewed toward education and nutrition entitlements. The Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service dominates the award count at 32 awards, and the Department of the Army follows at 26 awards, together accounting for 59% of recent awards. However, the top-customer-by-potential-value ranking shows NASA's Shared Services Center anchoring 7 awards worth $1.3 million combined potential value, reflecting the university's substantive space science research portfolio. The Office of Naval Research (award date December 2025, CFDA 12.300) and the National Science Foundation Divisions of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences account for most of the remaining high-value research grants. The source reports combined obligated dollars of $51.8 million against a combined potential value of $1.4 million, indicating that most awards in the source snapshot carry low ceiling values but the university has a substantial track record of prior funding exceeding $26 million across research portfolios.

Activity has grown substantially year over year—5 awards in 2022 to 23 in 2024, with 20 in 2025—though 2026 shows only 5 awards to date in the source window. Three awards totaling $296 thousand in combined potential value reach ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months and face recompete exposure. Sub-recipient work is primarily distributed through the Pennsylvania Department of Education (Child and Adult Care Food Program reimbursements) and includes SBDC funding flows through Kutztown University of Pennsylvania. The university also serves as a sub-recipient under the University of Delaware on agricultural risk-mitigation and food safety education initiatives and under The Catholic University of America on HAMSCI metadata and space weather product support. The university's grant portfolio demonstrates deep engagement in NSF-funded STEM education and research infrastructure (MRI microscope and NMR spectrometer acquisitions), Department of Education STEM teacher recruitment through the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program, and National Endowment for the Humanities humanities curriculum development, alongside its primary space physics mission. The institution's federal funding is entirely non-set-aside; no federal contract vehicles, IDIQs, or GWACs appear in the source.