While a number of historically Black colleges and universities are likely to enter a competition for a seven-figure grant to develop a rocketry program, a professor at Tuskegee University is letting it be known that his Alabama school has a distinct edge.
In an initiative that will be announced in more detail in coming days, Base 11 of Costa Mesa, Calif., will award a $1.5-million grant to one HBCU to develop a hands-on, experiential liquid-fuel rocketry lab.
Contacted by Diverse, Dr. M. Javed Khan, Tuskegee professor and head of the Department of Aerospace Science Engineering there, said Tuskegee “has the unique distinction of having the only accredited aerospace engineering program at an HBCU. We have graduated the largest number of African-American aerospace engineers in the U.S.”
He added that students in the program “are active participants of high-impact, hands-on engineering activities such as the University Students Launch Initiative, Unmanned Aerial Systems design-build-fly and have also participated in the NASA Zero-Gravity program.”
Base 11 – a nonprofit, self-described “STEM workforce and entrepreneur acceleration” company – is trying to increase diversity among aerospace engineers and in the commercial space industry in general. This effort is in collaboration with Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity, the oldest predominantly African-American fraternity in the world, which unveiled the competition at its recent Boulé bi-annual gathering in Cincinnati.
“The African American workforce and entrepreneurial community was largely left behind by the tech boom in Silicon Valley, and we don’t want to see the same thing happen with the commercial space industry,” said Base 12 CEO Landon Taylor. “This grant will equip an HBCU with the seed capital and human capital needed to build a robust, long-term student rocketry program that can work in concert with industry to develop in-demand aerospace talent and launch new innovations that will harness space as the new frontier.”
Although she did not name names, Christine Byrd, director of communications for Base 11, said some HBCUs already have sent emails indicating interest in applying for the grant. Diverse reached out to several HBCUs to gauge interest, but only Tuskegee commented. There will be a competitive request-for-proposal process that begins in August, with the winning school selected by the end of fall.
