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 Fayetteville State University in North Carolina received a three-year, $769,173 grant from the National Science Foundation. The project, under the direction of Danielle Graham, an associate professor of microbiology, will examine how prior environmental nutrient conditions influence bacterial interspecific and intraspecific interactions. The research will also investigate how changes in nutrients alter bacterial traits, such as the physical features of forming spores and modifying cell walls and genetic markers that are responsible for changes to physical characteristics, antibiotic resistance, and soil nutrient access in the context of microbe-microbe and plant-microbe relationships.
The Tuskegee University Research Centers in Minority Institutions Center for Biomedical Research has received a $25 million grant from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities to help researchers develop health solutions for minority populations, particularly around obesity, and breast and cervical cancer. This is the largest research grant ever awarded to Tuskegee University.
The College of Nursing at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis has received a four-year, $4 million grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration to support increasing the number and diversity of nurse midwives in the Mississippi Delta region. The college launched a doctor of nursing practice degree program concentration in nurse midwifery in 2021, with the goal of improving health outcomes for pregnant women and their babies. The new grant will provide stipends to educate 12-14 nurse midwifery students annually. It will also allow an expansion of clinical learning sites.
Historically Black Langston University in Oklahoma has been awarded a $4,375,000 grant from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research to support the university’s Rehabilitation Research and Training Center. The research, under the direction of Corey Moore, the founding chair of the department of rehabilitation and disability studies at Langston University, will assess the feasibility of an employment support training model for providers serving people with disabilities from traditionally underserved racial and ethnic populations with co-occurring opioid and/or substance use disorder.
The University of Louisiana at Lafayette is receiving a $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation to launch the AddreSSing the TalEnt and DiversiTy Gap in Biotechnology Workforce (ASSET) program. The grant will fund a high-impact summer research program for undergraduate Black male students.
