Here is this week’s news of grants to historically Black colleges and universities or for programs of particular interest to African Americans in higher education.
The University of California at San Diego received a five-year, $6.4 million grant from the National Eye Institute of the National Institutes of Health, for a study of glaucoma in African Americans. The study will be focused on identifying glaucoma genes to develop predictive models for diagnosis and to discover new drug therapies to reduce the negative impact glaucoma has on vision.
Historically Black Clark Atlanta University received a $300,000 grant from the United Methodist Church to support infrastructure improvements at McPheeters-Dennis Hall. The building houses several academic departments at the university including mathematics, physics, African American studies, and history.
Historically Black Hampton University in Virginia is the recipient of a $192,332 grant from the National Institutes of Health to establish the National Resource Mentoring Network Consortium. The grant will also lead to the formation of an infrastructure for a national consortium to provide networking and mentoring for individuals from backgrounds that have been historically underrepresented in biomedical research careers. Raymond Samuel, assistant dean of the Hampton University School of Engineering and Technology, is the principal investigator of the grant program.
Fort Valley State University, the historically Black educational institution in Georgia, received a three-year, $398,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to create a bioenergy undergraduate research and instruction program. The goal is to bring more Black and other minority students into STEM fields.
Historically Black South Carolina State University in Orangeburg, received a $149,956 grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Science that will be used to enhance appreciation of the university’s I.P. Stanback Museum and Planetarium by university students and members of the surrounding community.
Eleven educational institutions in Ohio will share a $3.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation for a program to increase the participation of Black and other minority students in STEM fields. Ohio State University is the lead institution in the grant program. Ohio’s two historically Black educational institutions – Wilberforce University and Central State University – will be participants in the program.
Historically Black Morehouse College in Atlanta received a $1 million grant from the Coca-Cola Foundation. The grant will establish the Coca-Cola Last Mile Scholarship fund that will provide scholarship grants for juniors and seniors with a grade point average of 3.2 or higher and who are experiencing financial need. The grants will be targeted at students who would have to leave school if they did not get the financial help.
