On Monday, the U.S. Department of Defense announced it had awarded more than $50 million in grants to researchers at nearly 100 historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and at minority-serving institutions (MIs).
According to the DOD the 98 grants are for up to $800,000 each and will support 21 HBCUs and 49 MIs in 26 states and the District of Columbia. The awards are part of the DOD HBCU/MI Research and Education Program to support research in critical defense technology areas.
“Investing in the research and development capacity of our academic partners remains a top priority for the Department of Defense,” Evelyn Kent, director of the DoD HBCU/MI Program and Outreach, said. “Equipping universities with relevant instrumentation and other equipment is imperative for advancing novel research aligned with defense science and technology priorities while fostering innovation at the institutions. These awards help enrich the curricula offered to scholars pursuing science, technology, engineering, and mathematics degrees and support the training of the next-generation workforce.”
The grants were awarded on a merit-based competition basis administered by the U.S. Army’s Research Office, officials said. The winners were selected from more than 150 proposals seeking a total of $82 million in funding. Proposals were evaluated by the Army Research Office, the Office of Naval Research and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research.
Among the institutions receiving awards was California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, CA, for magnetic materials characterization supporting additive manufacturing of electric machines; Claflin University in Orangeburg, SC for a STEM Education project on equipment and instrumentation; and New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology in Socorro, NM for a project on state-of-the-art mixer and micro-CT scanner for advanced manufacturing and energetic materials research.