Wichita State University

Wichita State University's Office of Research and Sponsored Programs operates as a prime contractor and grant recipient serving federal agencies in aerospace materials testing, advanced manufacturing, STEM workforce development, and applied research, with $1.74 billion in combined potential value across 896 recent awards (745 prime, 151 sub) and no SBA set-aside designations—the university competes entirely full-and-open across civilian research and defense customers.

The university's core federal capability portfolio centers on composite materials characterization and testing, hypersonic systems research, advanced manufacturing process development, thermoplastic welding and thermal management systems, and aerospace structural qualification work, grounded in the National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR). Recent prime work includes a $580.9 thousand firm-fixed-price contract from Naval Air Warfare Center for prepreg testing and qualification services (through January 2028), a $38.6 million definitive contract from Air Force Research Laboratory for manufacturing and modeling research supporting affordable sustainable composites with subcontractors at University of Texas at Arlington, University of Utah, Southwest Research Institute, and University of Dayton Research Institute, a $1.75 million delivery order from NASA Glenn Research Center for refractory composite material databases supporting hypersonic flight structure validation (under a $15 million Glenn IDIQ running through September 2029), and a $261 thousand delivery order from Federal Aviation Administration under the UAS Center of Excellence IDIQ for high-bypass turbofan engine ingestion test analysis and documentation. The university also holds a $975 million Rapid Sustainment Office Multi-Award IDIQ with the U.S. Air Force (awarded July 2024, through July 2033) and received a $151 billion Missile Defense Agency SHIELD IDIQ on December 29, 2025, extending through December 2035, covering research, prototyping, systems engineering, and modernization across multi-domain defense systems.

Customer concentration sits heavily with the Department of the Air Force: 10 awards ($1.38 billion combined potential value) anchors the dollars, while NASA's Shared Services Center (124 awards, $61.5 million) and Department of the Air Force Materiel Command Research Laboratory (15 awards, $106.9 million) dominate the volume and breadth signals. The Federal Aviation Administration (116 awards), National Science Foundation (64 awards), and Department of Education's Office of Postsecondary Education (60 awards) round out the top five by count. This divergence—Air Force dominance in dollars versus NASA and FAA dominance in award volume—reflects WSU's role as a specialized materials and structures testing partner for high-value defense modernization alongside broader educational and basic research engagement.

WSU operates as a research institution primarily priming its own work (83% prime split) rather than subcontracting to larger primes; when it does subcontract, named primes include Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation (full-scale fatigue test technical services, awarded December 2025), Bell Textron (Future Vertical Lift low-speed wind tunnel testing, multiple awards through 2025), Sierra Nevada Company (Survivable Airborne Operations Center services, multiple awards through October 2025), and KBR Wyle Services (B-52 reliability and sustainment engineering, awarded June 2025). The university also acts as a sub-recipient on federal grant research led by Iowa State University (green nitrogen fertilizers for climate-threatened farming, FY2023–2027), University of Texas at Austin (AI Institute for foundational machine learning, multiple sub-awards through 2025), University of Kansas Center for Research (tornado damage mapping via satellite imagery and AI; state-of-health modeling for second-life lithium metal batteries), and University of New Mexico (water utility technical assistance and training across EPA Region 7, multiple sub-awards through 2026).

On the grant side, WSU is a prime recipient of federal research and education funding across NSF (mathematics, physics, engineering, cybersecurity, and computer science programs), NASA (STEM engagement cooperative agreements totaling $3.41 million and $750 thousand for in-space manufacturing research and educator professional development), Department of Education (TRIO Student Support Services, GEAR UP college readiness, and CyberCorps Scholarship for Service), Department of Defense (APEX Accelerator procurement technical assistance, $821 thousand through May 2027), National Institute of Standards and Technology (advanced manufacturing equipment and NCAMP qualification framework expansion), and NSF EPSCOR (collaborative research on nitrogen oxide-relieved fertilizers with Iowa State). Representative recent grant work includes a $10 million NASA grant for advanced manufacturing technology and equipment (FY2024–2026), a $750 thousand cooperative agreement for in-space manufacturing research (May 2023–April 2026), a $749 thousand NSF S-STEM scholarship program for low-income engineering students (through December 2028), multiple TRIO Student Support Services grants (ranging $272 thousand to $514 thousand annually through 2026) serving low-income, first-generation, and disabled students, and a $590 thousand NSF Division of Computer and Network Systems grant on detecting personal information abuse in mobile applications (through September 2028).

Activity has remained flat to slightly declining: 81 awards in 2024 and 76 in 2025, down from a peak of 74 in 2023, with 16 awards recorded to date in 2026. Fifty-five awards (combined potential value $69.2 million) reach ultimate completion inside the next twenty-four months, representing significant recompete exposure. The university's SCI-reportable federal service contract activity is minimal—zero invoiced revenue in FY2024 and negligible FTE engagement across FY2022–2024—reflecting WSU's profile as a research institution where most federal engagement flows through R&D contracts and grants rather than service-contract labor.