Department of Homeland Security Awards $2.8M to Minority-Serving Colleges for STEM

To support equity in STEM education, the Department of Homeland Security awarded more than $2.8M to historically Black colleges and universities and other postsecondary schools that serve minority populations earlier this year.

The grantees were Texas A&M University – Kingsville, University of the District of Columbia, Jackson State University, Tennessee State University and University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.

Supporting the success of HBCUs and other minority-serving institutions is seen as a meaningful step toward equalizing opportunities in science, technology, engineering and math. Although only 8.5 percent of Black undergraduate students attend HBCUs, nearly 18 percent of Black people with bachelor’s degrees in STEM attended HBCUs.

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DHS has been giving grants to minority-serving higher education institutions since 2007, as a part of the Scientific Leadership Award program. Since then, the grant program has awarded several STEM grants to historically Black colleges and universities, Hispanic-serving institutions and tribal colleges.