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.
Jackson State University, the historically Black educational institution in Mississippi, received a grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop an online course on advanced principles of environmental science. The grant project is under the direction of Clement G. Yedjou, an assistant professor of biology at Jackson State. Dr. Yedjou is a graduate of the University of Yaounde in Cameroon. He earned a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in environmental science at Jackson State University.
Historically Black South Carolina State University in Orangeburg received a $100,000 donation from alumnus Kenneth Ravenell. A 1981 graduate of South Carolina State, Ravenell is a senior partner at Murphy, Falcon & Murphy in Baltimore. Ravenell graduated from the Maryland School of Law in Baltimore.
Wayne State University in Detroit received a three-year, $173,556 grant from the National Institutes of Health to determine if residential environment is a risk factor that helps explain the higher rate of preterm delivery among African American mothers compared to White mothers. The grant will be under the direction of Shawnita Sealy-Jefferson, a postdoctoral fellow in the department of family medicine and public health sciences. Dr. Sealy-Jefferson holds a bachelor’s degree and a master of public health degree from Wayne State University and a Ph.D. in epidemiology from the University of Michigan.
Historically Black Delaware State University in Dover received a $175,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Defense. The grant will fund the purchase of a fluorescence correlation spectrometer for the university’s Optical Science Center for Applied Research.
Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn, New York, received a five-year, $2.2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health for programs to increase the number of students from underrepresented minority groups who are prepared for Ph.D. programs in the biomedical and behavioral sciences.
Xavier University of Louisiana, the historically Black educational institution in New Orleans, received a $11.2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to support programs and infrastructure for biomedical research.
Historically Black North Carolina Central University in Durham received a $350,000 grant from the Executive Leadership Foundation to support the university’s Summer Youth Business & Entrepreneurship Academy. The academy offers classes in marketing, finance, leadership, entrepreneurship, and ethics to high-achieving high school students.
