HBCUs, Others Eligible for Science Grants

Black Issues in Higher Education, Feb 4, 1999 by Charles Dervarics

The U.S. Education Department (ED)is offering about $4 million in a new grant competition to encourage science and engineering improvements among students of color.

The grants under the Minority Science and Engineering Improvement Program should produce "long-range improvement" in science education at predominantly minority institutions, ED says. Under the new Higher Education Act law, Congress also moved this program from Title X to Title III -- the same section of HEA that houses a grant program for Black colleges and universities.

The program is open primarily to minority-serving institutions, with some grants available for nonprofit science groups that would serve these colleges and universities. ED expects to award 22 institutional grants ranging from $100,000 to $200,000 each.

Also available are four cooperative grants with an estimated grant award of $280,000. Smaller design and special grants are available as well.

Applications are due March 5. For more information, contact: Kenneth Waters or Deborah Newkirk, Institutional Development, ED, 600 Maryland Ave. SW, Washington, DC 20202-5335. The telephone number is: (202) 709-9926.