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.
Fort Valley State University in Georgia received a $5.8 million gift from the estate of alumnus Eddie D. Smith and his wife Martha Smith. The donation — the largest philanthropic gift in the HBCU’s history — will be used to support key university priorities, including academic excellence and student success initiatives that are designed to strengthen the student experience and position the university for continued success.
Manoj K. Mishra, biology professor and founding director of the Cancer Research Center at Alabama State University, secured a $400,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to integrate artificial intelligence and machine learning into biology courses and faculty-mentored research. The funds will allow 15 undergraduates at the HBCU to participate in hands-on research in computational biology and biomedical data science.
The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff received $512,212 in supplemental federal funding through the U.S. Department of Education’s Minority Science and Engineering Improvement Program. Adding to a prior federal grant worth $6 million, the new funds will support 27 graduate student apprenticeships and 20 faculty research projects that advance the HBCU’s STEM enterprise, particularly regarding research on machine learning applications in financial management or technology.
