HBCU Homecoming season just got even sweeter!
Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock has announced a $97.1 million award in federal funding to support Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) research programs at 10 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) nationwide.
Senator Warnock, a proud Morehouse College graduate, has long been a champion of HBCUs and successfully secured this latest batch of congressionally directed funding through the Department of Defense’s (DOD) HBCU/MSI program. The grant supports 10 HBCUs across the country as they seek to achieve Research One (R1) status—the highest research activity classification among colleges and universities in the United States.
“For too long, HBCUs have gone unrecognized for their contributions to our nation’s leading STEM industry,” said Senator Warnock, author of the bestseller, The Crooked Places Made Straight: Reflections on the Moral Meaning of America. “These institutions serve as stewards of academic excellence and innovation, and this federal investment specifically in STEM programs honors that legacy of greatness and expands opportunity for the next generation of scientists.”
The funding is right on time. While STEM careers are consistently identified as a growing and lucrative option for young professionals, Black professionals currently only make up about 8% to 9% of the U.S. STEM workforce, which is lower than their 11% share of the total workforce, according to the U.S. National Science Foundation. And Black representation drops lower in certain sectors, making up roughly 5% of architecture and engineering roles.
Yet HBCU graduates continue to fight above their weight class. Approximately 70% of Black doctors and dentists in the U.S. earned their degrees at HBCUs. And HBCUs are responsible for nearly half of all Black engineers. Furthermore, HBCUs make up just 3% of all U.S. colleges but produce 28% of Black STEM graduates.
To date, Senator Warnock has secured more than $17 billion for HBCU campuses nationwide, including nearly $275 million for HBCUs in his home state, Georgia. The father of two has long been a champion of HBCUs. As an HBCU graduate who understands firsthand the benefit of a quality and culturally competent education, Warnock has long emphasized the importance of adequately funding these important institutions.
The HBCUs receiving grant funding are:
Clark Atlanta University, $9,784,632.00
Delaware State University, $9,998,873.00
University of District of Columbia, $9,982,865.00
Florida A&M University (FAMU), $10,000,000.00
Morgan State University, $10,000,000.00
Jackson State University, $7,573,527.00
Fayetteville State University, $9,905,607.00
North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (NCA&T), $10,000,000.00
Prairie View A&M University, $9,858,194.00
Texas Southern University, $9,997,847.00
The legacy of HBCU graduates excelling in STEM careers is rich, long and layered. From Dr. Louis T. Wright, a medical pioneer and surgeon who graduated from Clark Atlanta University in 1911 to groundbreaking astronaut and physicist Dr. Ronald McNair who graduated from NC A&T in 1971 to Dr. Mareena Robinson Snowden, a FAMU alumna (Class of 2011) who became the first Black woman to earn a Ph.D. in Nuclear Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), making her a trailblazer in national security and nuclear policy research, the next crop of HBCU STEM graduates will definitely be in great company.
The future is bright!