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.
Spelman College, the historically Black liberal arts educational institution for women in Atlanta, received a grant from the Jonathan Logan Family Foundation that will allow the college to purchase and send equipment to documentary filmmaking and photography majors, who are currently completing their studies virtually. Funding will equip remote students with camera packages for assignments and thesis completion.
Harvard University has announce a gift from South Africa’s Motsepe Foundation, which will launch the Motsepe Presidential Research Accelerator Fund for Africa to advance groundbreaking research on key issues impacting the continent. This gift will support faculty-led and student-driven STEM research across Harvard’s Schools, exploring questions of crucial importance to the region.
Historically Black Florida A&M University received a $10 million grant from Blueprint Intergovernmental Agency Board of Leon County, Florida, and the city of Tallahassee. The funds will be used to renovate Bragg Memorial Stadium on the university’s campus.
Ohio State University and the University of Florida are sharing a three-year, $1.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation to explore school support, schooling experiences, academic engagement, course-taking patterns, and family support systems of high-achieving African American male students in STEM disciplines. Research findings may potentially help the STEM community identify the different positive and negative challenges that low-income, African American males experience in high school. Edward C. Fletcher Jr., a Distinguished Associate Professor in the Workforce Development and Education program at Ohio State University is the principal investigator on the project.
Historically Black Hampton University in Virginia received a donation of COVID-19 testing equipment from Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc. The donation is valued at $2.3 million. The gift includes diagnostic instruments, test kits, and related supplies. The company will also provide technical assistance to establish or expand laboratories to provide regular on-campus COVID-19 testing throughout the 2020-21 school year.
Howard University, the historically Black educational institution in Washington, D.C., is partnering in a $3.75 million grant with Harvard University and the University of Southern California. The objective of the research is to develop a transformative future manufacturing platform for quantum material architectures using a cyber-manufacturing approach, which combines artificial intelligence, robotics, multi-scale modeling, and predictive simulation for the automated and parallel assembly of multiple two-dimensional materials into complex three-dimensional structures.
The United Negro College Fund received a $5 million grant from the 3M Corporation to fund a scholarship program for students in St. Paul, Minnesota, who want to attend historically Black colleges and universities.
Historically Black Simmons College of Kentucky received a $1.3 million grant from Humana Corporation to enhance the college’s online education programs. The grant will fund infrastructure upgrades at the college and help students get computers and Wi-Fi access.
