Webster University

Webster University, a private, tax-exempt educational institution based in Webster Groves, Missouri, operates as a federal grant recipient delivering STEM workforce development, clinical health professions training, and campus safety programming to the National Science Foundation, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Education, and the Department of Defense. Webster University competes as a prime recipient on 99% of its federal awards and operates predominantly outside set-aside categories; the source indicates no SBA designations.

Webster's recent federal grant footprint centers on NSF-funded STEM education and cyberinfrastructure training. The National Science Foundation Division of Undergraduate Education awarded Webster University $746,008 in October 2026 under CFDA 47.076 to lead a five-institution Missouri consortium integrating high-performance computing education into undergraduate STEM coursework across astronomy, biology, chemistry, computer science, data science, and physics, targeting up to 800 students and 40 faculty members through modular, plug-and-play instructional modules. The NSF Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure awarded $300,000 in January 2027 under CFDA 47.070 to develop peer-mentored HPC bootcamps for undergraduates at primarily undergraduate institutions, using the Hellbender high-performance computing cluster and pairing intensive summer training with academic-year mentoring in Linux, Python, Jupyter Notebooks, and parallel computing. Webster also received a $400,000 NSF Division of Undergraduate Education grant in October 2026 to establish a fellowship and leadership development program fostering STEM student belonging and persistence, and a $783,379 award in October 2025 under CFDA 47.076 to deliver BIO-PREP, a biotechnology career preparation program combining career exploration coursework, laboratory skills training, micro-credentialing, and industry internships for biology and chemistry majors.

Beyond NSF, Webster University received a $2.4 million project grant in July 2025 from the Department of Health and Human Services Bureau of Health Professionals to expand the Webster Institute for Clinical Scholarship (WICS), addressing mental and behavioral health provider shortages through expanded curriculum in adverse childhood experiences and ecological counseling targeting children, adolescents, and youth in underserved St. Louis communities. The Department of Education Office of Postsecondary Education awarded $1,025,000 in June 2023 under CFDA 84.116 for student access and mental health services infrastructure. Webster also holds an NSF-funded Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship award (CFDA 47.076) dating to March 2023 to prepare STEM teachers for high-need school districts, supporting 22 to 24 aspiring educators in biology, chemistry, computer science, and mathematics with partnerships across Ritenour School District and St. Louis Community College. The Office on Violence Against Women awarded Webster a continuation grant in October 2024 for campus-based domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking prevention programming in collaboration with Safe Connections and Webster Groves Police.

Customer concentration across Webster's recent award activity splits between NSF dominance in research and training (driving volume) and the Department of the Navy's concentration of dollar potential. The top five customers by award count account for 34% of recent awards, led by the Department of the Army (28 awards), the Department of Health and Human Services Health Resources and Services Administration (9 awards), and the Department of Veterans Affairs Veterans Health Administration Veterans Integrated Service Network 15 (8 awards). By potential value, however, the Department of the Navy anchors $147.1 million across two awards, representing nearly complete coverage of Webster's combined potential value of $147.3 million. Webster's top parent contract vehicles are Army Basic Ordering Agreements and Indefinite Delivery Contracts, with 7, 5, 5, and 3 task orders respectively; these are education and training delivery vehicles rather than research contracts. Webster University has received federal awards continuously since 1981, with 173 total awards across all federal sources in the source portfolio. Recent activity averaged 2 to 4 awards annually in 2023–2026, with four awards in 2025 alone. Four awards reach ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months. Webster operates as a sub-recipient on grant work subordinate to the University of Missouri System, contributing laboratory and specimen-management activities to NSF-funded pollinator and plant ecology research.