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.
The School of Nursing at historically Black Fayetteville State University in North Carolina has received a $1.5 million grant from the United States Health Resources and Services Administration. The grant will be used to expand the university’s Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner certificate program, which aims to prepare nurses to adequately respond to, communicate with, and support survivors of sexual assault.
The Bluford Library at Historically Black North Carolina A&T State University has been awarded a $300,000 grant from the North Carolina Department of Information Technology to enhance technology and internet services for low-income residents in East Greensboro. Through the initiative, the university will work with local organizations to improve community access to internet and computers, as well as improve digital literacy among East Greensboro residents. Additionally, the grant will provide specialized training and mentoring in digital skills to formerly incarcerated people in the local area.
Clark Atlanta University, in collaboration with the AI Institute for Advances in Optimization at the Georgia Institute of Technology, has received a $2.79 million grant from the National Science Foundation to establish an AI research hub. The AIHUB@CAU will focus on creating faculty, undergraduate, and graduate research opportunities, as well as increasing African American representation in emerging AI fields.
Benedict College, in Columbia, South Carolina, in partnership with Integer Technologies, has received a $7.9 million contract from the Office of Naval Research to conduct research on the cyber-physical security of autonomous systems. Additionally, the funding will be used to develop better defense research opportunities and enhance the HBCU’s STEM curriculum, thereby creating a pipeline for students to pursue technical careers with the United States Department of Defense upon graduation from Benedict.
Rice University in Houston and Kenyatta University in Kenya have received a $2.5 million grant from the Lemelson Foundation to establish a new master’s degree program at the African university. The “Impact Invention” graduate program will include an interdisciplinary, project-based curriculum in product development, engineering, and entrepreneurship. The initiative aims to enhance the research capabilities at Kenyan universities and prepare students to pursue careers in innovation and sustainability.
Paul Quinn College, an HBCU in Dallas, Texas, has received a $20 million gift from an anonymous donor. The gift is the largest single donation in the college’s history. The new funding will be used to establish student scholarships, increase the college’s endowment, create an endowed faculty chair, support fundraising efforts, enhance academic programs, and improve campus infrastructure.
A collaborative team of researchers from the University at Buffalo, Texas A&M University, and historically Black Howard University have received a $1.5 million grant from the United States Department of Energy to increase diversity in the field of environmental engineering. Through the grant program, two scholars from Texas A&M and two scholars from Howard will travel to each participating institution to research reducing carbon emissions. The funds will also be used to acquire emerging energy technologies to optimize research.
