By Quintessa Williams
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) awarded seven competitive financial assistance grant awards to the minority-serving institutions (MSI) shown below, as a result of its Office of Environmental Management (EM) Minority Serving Institutions Partnership Program (MSIPP) Funding Opportunity Announcement DE-FOA-0002820.
The awards will focus on enhancing MSI programs to help foster a sustainable and diverse EM science, technology, engineering, and mathematics workforce pipeline. The awards will also aid in promoting the development of a nationally engaged scientific and engineering workforce that will lead to future career pathways in the EM complex for underrepresented groups.
- Historically Black Florida A&M University has received a $4.7 million grant from the United States Department of Education to develop a geospatial-artificial intelligence-enhanced curriculum for minority-serving institutions. The project will be conducted in partnership with two other historically Black universities, Kentucky State University and Clark Atlanta University.
- Texas State University in partnership with Prairie View A&M University received a grant award for multidisciplinary research and workforce development on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances. The total estimated for this grant is $3,521,137.
The total estimated value of all the grant awards is $24,761,831 and a period of performance of three years from April 1, 2024, through March 31, 2027, for all grants.
For more than 30 years, EM has remained focused on addressing the environmental legacy of nuclear weapons development and nuclear energy research that helped end World War II, win the Cold War, and position the United States as a leader in clean nuclear energy.