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.
Claflin University in Orangeburg, South Carolina, received a $150,000 donation to establish the Dr. Curtis J. and Mrs. Gina Crawford Foundation Honors Scholar-Fellows Fund. The new endowed fellowship will support students in the HBCU’s Alice Carson Tisdale Honors College who are pursuing degrees in business or the natural sciences and mathematics. Crawford Honors Scholar-Fellows will receive resources for undergraduate research, leadership development, faculty mentorship, professional networking, conferences, and experiential learning opportunities.
The University of the District of Columbia received a nearly $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of War’s Defense University Research Instrumentation Program to establish an Integrated Geo-Structural Testing Platform for Resilient Infrastructure Systems. The award will fund new, state-of-the-art equipment for the structural and geotechnical engineering laboratories within the HBCU’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
Jarvis Christian University in Hawkins, Texas, was awarded a $130,000 grant from the Council of Independent Colleges’ Network for Vocation in Undergraduate Education to launch a four-year initiative that transforms the HBCU’s chapel tradition into an integrated educational experience that connects faith, academic learning, career exploration, and community engagement. This fall, students will participate in small-group Chapel Labs, interactive learning experiences that encourage students to explore the relationship between their academic studies, personal values, faith, and professional aspirations. Faculty Fellows will facilitate Chapel Labs and help embed vocational reflection throughout the curriculum.
Fisk University in Nashville received a $4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education to expand the HBCU’s Justice Propulsion Lab, a research, policy, and practice center that brings scholarship into direct engagement with some of the most pressing challenges facing institutions and communities. The new funds will support the lab’s next phrase of growth, including new technology and research infrastructure, full-time professional staff, faculty affliates, expanded cohorts of the Justice Propulsion Agents, new learning and research opportunities, community and institutional partnerships, and national convenings.
Morgan State University in Baltimore was awarded a five-year, $10 million grant from the U.S. Department of War to establish The Institute for Trusted Autonomous Networks (TITAN), a university-wide research and education initiative focused on developing reliable, explainable, and resilient autonomous systems capable of operating in complex and uncertain environments. The institute will engage undergraduates, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and faculty in research centered on advanced AI, cybersecurity, quantum technologies, resilient communications, robotics, sensing, and human-machine systems. Over the five-year grant period, the institute is projected to support 20 projects, 48 STEM research trainees, and 24 postdoctoral researchers.
