Here is this week’s news of grants or gifts to historically Black colleges and universities or for programs of particular interest to African Americans in higher education.
A research team from the University of Michigan has received a $3.6 million grant from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities to examine inequalities in healthy aging between Black and White people in the United States. Previous studies have shown that predominately Black neighborhoods are often located near pollution-producing factories or disposal sites that release chemical stressors into the environment. This project will involve collecting genetic material from the study participants to examine how the participants’ neighborhoods impact their genes.
Researchers at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland have received a $14.6 million federal grant to diversify the populations included in Alzheimer’s disease research. The project will strive to include a greater representation of African-American and Hispanic communities, which have been greatly underrepresented in previous research on this disease.
The Department of Education has awarded Clemson University in South Carolina a $746,250 Graduate Assistance for Areas of National Need (GAANN) grant to attract more diverse students to its doctoral program in chemical engineering. Clemson is adding $186,564 of its own money to the grant. The university will focus its recruitment efforts on students at Clemson and the HBCUs in the Southeast. The grant money will be used to attract students by offering up to $34,000 in annual stipends for two to three years.
Prairie View A&M University and Texas Southern University have received a grant from the National Science Foundation to expand the foundation of big data analytics and develop a deep learning software package. The project, “Excellence in Research: Collaborative Research: Strengthen the Foundation of Big Data Analytics via Interdisciplinary Research among HBCUs” will assist with big data research among a wide range of disciplines including academics, oil and gas, and the military.
The Saturday STEM program at Alcorn State University has received a large donation from Entergy Mississippi. The program provides STEM enrichment opportunities for students in Claiborne and Jefferson counties. According to Mary Trimble, director of Saturday Stem, “the grant will be used to extend the number of days students attend classes, increase the amount of funds for hands-on learning experiences, increase the number of stipends, and increase the number of learning experiences in real-world settings.”
