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.
Historically Black Fort Valley State University in Georgia has received a nearly $3 million grant from the Department of Education to expand its Cooperative Developmental Energy Program. The project aims to recruit, mentor and award scholarships to a minimum of 30 academically talented minority and female students. Other funds will be allocated to a program to mentor 120 ninth- through twelfth-grade students in STEM through the university’s Math, Science and Engineering Academy. Isaac Crumbly, associate vice president for careers and collaborative programs and director of the Cooperative Developmental Energy Program, is the project director for this grant.
The U.S. Department of Energy announced $25 million in financial assistance grants to historically Black colleges and universities in South Carolina and Tennessee for programs to advance STEM educational initiatives. Claflin University in Orangeburg is the lead institution in South Carolina. Seven other HBCUs in the state will receive funds. Tennessee State University is the lead institution in that state. Fisk University and Meharry Medical College will also receive funds.
Historically Black Norfolk State University and the University of Virginia received a $5 million grant from the National Science Foundation to address rising seawater levels and the associated problems in Hampton Roads. The funds will be used to help coastal communities protect natural, social, and economic resources.
Bowie State University, a historically Black university in Maryland, will expand its ability to train and mentor undergraduate students from diverse, underrepresented backgrounds and prepare them for biotechnology, biomedical, and other careers steeped in science with a new $148,000 grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse at the National Institutes of Health. The grant will provide funds to enable students to conduct hands-on clinical research to help prepare them to successfully compete as applicants for the NIH Summer Internship Program.
