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.
Lucinda Cantry, associate professor in the Elaine Marieb College of Nursing at the University of Masschusetts Amherst, has received a two-year, $500,000 grant from the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center to study the causes of preeclampsia in an effort to improve outcomes for expecting mothers and their babies. The research project will have a particular focus on understanding how the condition disproportionately impacts Black women.
Morgan State University has received an eight-year, $3 million grant from the Bisciotti Family Foundation to fund more scholarships through the Ozzie Newsome Scholars program, an initiative started by Baltimore Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti and his wife Renee to expand college access to students from Baltimore. Through the latest investment, 40 new Ozzie Newsome Scholars (up to 10 students in each of the next four incoming classes) will receive scholarships of $15,000 annually for up to five years.
Chinyere Knight, associate profesor of biology at Tuskegee University in Alabama, received a two-year, $450,000 grant through the National Science Foundation’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program. The new grant will be used to advance biodiversity research at the HBCU and provide undergraduate students with hands-on training in genomics and data analysis that will prepare them to address challenges in agriculture, biotechnology, conservation, and environmental sustainability.
