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.
Historically Black Howard University in Washington, D.C., received a $00,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to implement a cutting-edge program to support the training of more than 500 undergraduate students in data science with a focus on biology. Instructors will actively immerse undergraduates in the primary literature related to their data science-driven projects using several active learning approaches, and promote the development of students’ science communication skills. The project is under the direction of Michael C. Campbell, an assistant professor of biology at the university.
Hampton University, the historically Black educational institution in Virginia, has been awarded a $300,000 Research Initiation Award from the National Science Foundation to study molecular markers in the skin of common bottlenose dolphins. The research will examine the commonalities between human and dolphin skin disease at the molecular level.
Georgia Southern University received a five-year, a $2 million grant from the National Science Foundation to support training and experiences for underrepresented minority students and early career scientists in the field of freshwater science.
Students at three historically Black institutions will benefit from a $500,000 grant from LaSalle Investment Management Inc. Rising sophomores at Florida A&M University, Morehouse College, and Spelman College will be eligible for $10,000 scholarships. Students who receive the scholarship will be required to attend four quarterly meetings, either virtually or in-person, including an investment committee meeting and a quarterly townhall. Additionally, each student will be matched with a senior leader of the firm, who will provide mentorship and help guide them through an introduction to the real estate profession.
Historically Black Delaware State University received a five-year, $1.3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health that will fund the establishment of a bioinformatics and chemistry summer program for middle school students. Each year, 64 students will be able to enroll in the two-week program, which will be held twice during the summer over the next five years. The principal investigators of the grant are Derrick Scott and LaTia Scott, both associate professors in the university’s department of biological sciences.
Alumni Thomas O. Burkholder and Judith A. McDonald Burkholder have made a substantial gift to Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania, that will support scholarships for underrepresented students seeking a career in medicine.
Tuskegee University, a historically Black educational institution in Alabama, received a $1.4 million grant from the National Institutes of Health for breast cancer research. The project will evaluate the effect of heat shock protein in the progression of breast cancer.
