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.
North Carolina A&T State University, a historically Black educational institution, has been awarded a $4.2 million grant from the Division of Materials Research of the National Science Foundation. The funds will be used for a collaborative program with the University of California, San Diego that aims to enhance diversity in materials research. The initiative will fund training and education for over 80 students through developing new coursework and research strategies.
Berneece Herbert, chair of the department of urban and regional planning at historically Black Jackson State University in Mississippi, will serve as co-principal investigator for a new research project to address flood risks and the impact of climate extremes along the United States Gulf Coast. The project, funded by a $5.8 million National Science Foundation grant and overseen by the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, will investigate why specific communities are more susceptible to climate extremes and create plans for those communities to adapt to changing climates.
The University of Maryland Eastern Shore has received a $750,000 grant to enhance its public safety department. Funded by the Maryland Higher Education Commission, the new funds will enable the HBCU to purchase equipment such as building access control, cameras for locations that currently lack surveillance, and patrol fleet vehicles.
The department of computer science at historically Black Virginia State University has received an $800,000 grant from the United States Department of Defense to acquire state-of-the-art computing equipment. The new instrumentation will advance the university’s Center for Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense and its research capabilities in generative AI and industrial cybersecurity.
A team of researchers in the department of physics at historically Black Alabama A&M University has received a $299,292 grant from the National Science Foundation to advance the understanding of the quantum world. The project will have a specific focus on quarks, the fundamental building blocks of matter.
