Rutgers University
rutgers.edu
A multidisciplinary research center focused on wind energy is being launched by Rutgers University. The initiative will combine the efforts of marine and environmental scientists.
Western Carolina University
wcu.edu
A $220,000, four-year grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, shared between Western Carolina University and the University of North Carolina Asheville, will go toward supporting Indigenous students in STEM, including establishing an AISES College Chapter.
University of Pennsylvania
upenn.edu
Initiatives in the sciences at the University of Pennsylvania will benefit from an $83.9 million gift from an alumnus. Graduate education in chemistry will receive $50 million, and a permanent endowment will be established at the Vagelos Institute for Energy Science and Technology.
Washington University in St. Louis
washu.edu
More than 100 student and faculty research teams are now using the newly opened $616 million Neuroscience Research Building at Washington University in St. Louis.
Portland State University
pdx.edu
A two-year, $250,000 grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation will help Portland State University recruit underrepresented PhD candidates, an effort that will include using connections like the campus AISES College Chapter. The school already has Oregon’s most diverse population of undergraduate STEM students.
Purdue University
purdue.edu
Grants from Lilly Endowment totaling $100 million will support Purdue University’s strategic initiative in integrated technologies, which focuses on physical AI, computing, semiconductor, and quantum physics research.
University of Houston
uh.edu
A grant of nearly $1 million from the USDA will fund research at the University of Houston into protecting food crops in an era of climate change. One goal is to build a new curriculum and attract students who are underrepresented in current agriculture industry leadership.
University of Wisconsin
wisc.edu
Starting this fall, full costs of an education, including tuition and housing, at the University of Wisconsin–Madison will be covered for Indigenous students from the state’s 11 tribes. The Wisconsin Tribal Education Promise will cover costs of medical and law degrees as well.
Tufts University
tufts.edu
To help promote more sustainable food production, Tufts University has launched the world’s first and only minor in cellular agriculture. The program is available through the School of Engineering and the School of Arts and Sciences.
Duke University
duke.edu
To mark the school’s centennial, the largest single award in the history of Duke University — $100 million from the Duke Endowment — will fund several programs, including financial aid, student recruitment, support for students coming from minority-serving institutions, and strengthening community partnerships, among other initiatives.
Vanderbilt University
vanderbilt.edu
The nurse-midwife program at Vanderbilt University has received a $4 million, four-year grant from the federal Health Resources and Services Administration to improve maternal health outcomes in rural and underserved communities. Vanderbilt will use the funds to establish a new program called Midwifery Education — Access and Diversity for Optimizing the Workforce (MEADOW).
University of Michigan
umich.edu
A gift of $100,000 to the School of Public Health at the University of Michigan will fund a research project on finding community-based solutions to health equity challenges in the state.
Cornell University
cornell.edu
A gift of $10 million to the College of Human Ecology at Cornell University will go toward support for the school’s new Center for Precision Nutrition and Health, including funding for staff and student fellows as well as expanding the portfolio of research and programs.
University of Saskatchewan
usask.ca
The new kihci-okâwîmâw askiy (“Great Mother Earth” in Plains Cree) Knowledge Centre has been inaugurated at the University of Saskatchewan. The center is designed to be a resource for Indigenous communities and organizations looking for research partnerships, especially in areas like land and resource management.
University of Texas at Austin
utexas.edu
Researchers at the Cockrell School of Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin worked with members of the Navajo Nation to develop a water filtration system based on traditional pottery. The simple device enables users to purify water by pouring it through clay pots.
Arizona State University
asu.edu
As part of a federal plan to leverage the latest technology via several information hubs, a grant of nearly $40 million has gone to Arizona State University to build a microelectronics hub, to be called the Southwest Advanced Prototyping Hub.
University of Massachusetts
umass.edu
The new NSF Center for Braiding Indigenous Knowledge and Science — a five-year, $30 million international Science and Technology Center — will be led by Dr. Sonya Atalay, Dr. Jon Woodruff, and other researchers at UMass Amherst. The leadership team, which will focus on melding Indigenous knowledge and western science, also includes Dr. Ora Marek-Martinez and Ann Marie Chischilly, JD, of Northern Arizona University, among other scholars.
University of Maryland
umd.edu
A $20.6 million grant from the Clark Foundation will make the A. James Clark School of Engineering the home of the A. James Clark Program Network, a multi-university program that provides scholarships and fellowships to students with financial need.
Virginia Commonwealth University
vcu.edu
High-achieving high school students will be guaranteed admission to Virginia Commonwealth University, streamlining the admissions process. Students with a 3.5 weighted GPA or a spot in the top 10 percent of their class can simply submit a transcript with the Common Application.
University of Colorado Boulder
colorado.edu
First-generation Colorado engineering students from low-income families will be eligible for free tuition and academic support thanks to an expansion of the CU Promise program targeted to that specific field.
Idaho Post-Secondary Institutions
nextsteps.idaho.gov
The State of Idaho has made $75 million available through the Idaho Launch program. Participating students are eligible for a one-time grant to help cover tuition and fees at eligible Idaho institutions. The funds can be used for credits at universities and for apprenticeships and other kinds of training.
University of Manitoba
umanitoba.ca
Disney/Lucas Films, the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN), and the Dakota Ojibway Tribal Council are working with the University of Manitoba to create an Ojibwe version of Star Wars: A New Hope to be eventually shown on APTN. The goal of the project is to make the Ojibwe language more accessible.
University of Rochester
rochester.edu
Laser tech research at the University of Rochester has received nearly $18 million in NSF funding. Multi-institutional design for the laser facility, to be called EP-OPAL, will be centered at the school’s Laboratory for Laser Energetics. Once completed, it will be the world’s most powerful laser.
University of New Hampshire
unh.edu
Researchers at the University of New Hampshire will be tackling the issue of recycling or repurposing space debris thanks to a $3 million NSF grant. They will collaborate with researchers at Baylor and Purdue Universities.
University of Texas at Dallas
utdallas.edu
Research on battery technologies has received a $30 million boost in the form of a three-year Department of Defense grant to the University of Texas at Dallas. The funding will create an Energy Storage Systems Campus and attract private funding.
Northwestern University
northwestern.edu
A five-year, $50 million grant from the NSF and the Simons Foundation will establish the National Institute for Theory and Mathematics in Biology at Northwestern University, which will also partner with the University of Chicago on the initiative. One goal of the institute, the first of its kind in the U.S., is to probe fundamental questions in the life sciences. Also at Northwestern, the Pritzker School of Law and the Center for Native American and Indigenous Research co-hosted a two-day event focused on the 100 years since the 1924 Indian Citizenship Act.
Winston-Salem State University
wssu.edu
More than $6.3 million in grants from NASA and the NSF will go to Winston-Salem State University to advance progress in technology and artificial intelligence. Because the school is an HBCU, one intent of the combined grants is to increase diversity in tech and AI.
University of Victoria
uvic.ca
A $2.5 million grant to the University of Victoria in British Columbia will fund the Balance Co-Lab, an initiative designed to help Indigenous communities incorporate traditional values as they consider development proposals. The goal of the project is to advance a framework for culturally relevant decision-making that rests on sustainability.
University of Chicago
uchicago.edu
The Phoenix STEM program, launched last fall at the University of Chicago, is currently supporting 20 underrepresented first-year students with mentorship, academic services, and scholarships. The university also received a $35 million contract from the National Science Foundation to operate a new synchrotron research facility focused on the application of a cyclic particle accelerator (synchrotron) to Earth and environmental sciences.
University of Arkansas
uark.edu
The Life from the Land initiative at the University of Arkansas has received a $500,000 Tribal New Beginning Grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The funds will go toward recruiting and retaining Indigenous students.
Cal Tech
caltech.edu
Admission requirements of courses in calculus, physics, and chemistry at the California Institute of Technology have been dropped for underserved students whose high schools don’t offer those subjects. Instead, the school will offer other ways to demonstrate mastery of the material.
West Hills College
westhillscollege.com
The Tachi Yokut Tribe has funded a Native American Studies program at West Hills College with a $3 million donation. West Hills is a public community college in Lemoore, Calif.
Eastern Oregon University
eou.edu
The Greater Oregon STEM Hub (GO STEM) and Mobile Maker Lab outreach to K–12 schools in eastern Oregon is growing. Launched by Eastern Oregon University faculty at the College of Education, the effort brings in-person STEM lessons and hands-on activities to young students.
Providence College
providence.edu
A new 100,000-square-foot, $80 million facility will be built at Providence College to house the nursing program. The program launched last September.
Texas Christian University
tcu.edu
The Four Directions Scholars Program, newly established at Texas Christian University, aims to educate a new generation of tribal leaders. The program will provide support and opportunities for two first-year undergraduates who are members of a federally recognized tribe, and the first recipients will enroll this fall.
Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish College
nhsc.edu
A 2023 Excellence in Holistic Advising Redesign award has gone to Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish College. NHSC is one of only five schools and the only tribal college to be recognized with this award.
Johns Hopkins University
jhu.edu
A major investment in AI and data science at Johns Hopkins University will establish a new data science and translation institute to boost the school’s strength in these areas. Finding a home at the new institute will be specialists in AI, machine learning, applied mathematics, computer engineering, and computer science.
University of California, Berkeley
berkeley.edu
The NASA Ames Research Center and the University of California, Berkeley, will be collaborating on a $2 billion space center in Silicon Valley. The facility will be used for research and training a diverse population of people who want to be involved in exploring space. Also at UC Berkeley, construction is underway on the $550 million Gateway Project that will be home to UC Berkeley’s new College of Computing, Data Science, and Society. The facility is expected to open in the 2025–26 academic year.
University of Montana
umt.edu
A $1 million grant from the Mellon Foundation will support an Indigenous scholar-in-residence program at the University of Montana. The initiative will recruit elders and other knowledge keepers to serve as an academic resource for faculty members, with a goal of incorporating Indigenous knowledge and ways of knowing into the curriculum.
Saskatchewan Indian Institute of Technologies
siit.ca
A gift of $375,000 has funded a new fellowship program for Indigenous entrepreneurs at the Saskatchewan Indian Institute of Technologies. In addition to funding, fellows have opportunities for education and connecting with networks over two years of formalized mentoring.
Turbines photo by istock; University of manitoba composite image: istock (stars); starwarsojibwe.com (poster)