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.
Boise State University has received a National Science Foundation Bridge to Doctorate grant to support the creation of the Pacific Northwest Graduate Fellows Program. The new program will be dedicated to recruiting, retaining, and supporting a cohort of 12 talented students from historically underrepresented minority populations, enrolled in STEM doctoral programs to successful completion of their degrees. The goal is to increase the overall representation and success of students from these populations in STEM doctoral programs and, ultimately, among the ranks of university faculty.
The Emory Eye Center at Emory University in Atlanta has received a $3.2 million grant from the National Eye Institute of the National Institutes of Health to study vision-related issues in Ebola virus disease survivors. This project expands upon previous research related to eye disease in Ebola survivors in the United States and Sierra Leone since the West Africa Ebola outbreak which occurred from 2014 to 2016.
Morgan State University, the historically Black educational institution in Baltimore, has received a $1.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation to support the university’s STEM-related programs. The grant will fund more opportunities for undergraduate students to engage in hands-on learning and research.
Historically Black Alabama State University has received a $2.97 million grant from the National Institutes of Health’s National Research Mentoring Network to increase the diversity of the biomedical workforce by providing mentorship, networking, and career development opportunities for first-year students in biomedical disciplines at the university and partnering institutions. The other universities involved with the project include Tuskegee University, Savannah State University, Vanderbilt University, and the University of North Texas Health Science Center.
Historically Black Alabama A&M University has received a $1.7 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation to replace the university’s diesel buses with zero-emission electric buses. In addition to the new buses themselves, the grant will include all necessary electrical charging station infrastructure needed to operate the vehicles.
The department of sports management at Hampton University, the historically Black educational institution in Virginia, has received a $340,658 technology grant from the Department of Homeland Security to create an Esports lab. Esports, or electronic sports, is organized, competitive video gaming between players, either individually or as teams. In addition to a new lab, the grant will also fund the development of an Esports curriculum, allowing students to take courses on the subject.
During the 2019 fiscal year, historically Black Elizabeth City State University in North Carolina received more than $5 million in competitive awards and grants. This is a substantial increase of the previous year’s $4 million total. The grant funding has included programs such as Upward Bound, public broadcasting, aviation science, STEM education, research on African-American history, and more. These grants have not only secured funding for faculty members, but also for undergraduate and graduate financial support and research opportunities.
