DoD selects minority institutions for grants - In The News

Program Manager, July-August, 2003

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE NEWS RELEASE (JUNE 20, 2003)

The Department of Defense today announced plans toward 25 grants totaling $6.3 million to minority institutions. These grants represent the final phase of the fiscal 2003 DoD Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority Institutions Infrastructure Support Program. The grants will enhance programs and capabilities at these institutions in scientific disciplines critical to national security and DoD.

This announcement is the result of merit competition for infrastructure support funding conducted for the Office of Defense Research and Engineering by the Army Research Office, the Office of Naval Research, and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, in response to a broad agency announcement issued in November 2002. The fiscal 2003 program solicitation received 43 proposals among which 22 were to establish long-term centers of excellence, and 21 requested instrumentation or equipment to enhance science, mathematics, and engineering (SME) programs.

Among the proposed awards are four new centers for SME research and education and 21 equipment grants. The centers will be supported for three to five years at approximately $0.8 million per year. Equipment grants are for 12-month periods and will range from $58,000 to $180,000.

Since 1992 the infrastructure support program has provided more than $170 million to minority institutions for program enhancements in science, mathematics, and engineering. The program goals include increased participation of minority institutions in defense research and an increase in the number of underrepresented minority graduates in the fields of science, mathematics, and engineering.

Awards will be made only after written agreements are reached between the Department and the institutions. The list of recipients is available online at: http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Jun2003/d20030620hbcu.pdf