WASHINGTON – When it comes to National Science Foundation (NSF) grants, historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) must step up their game to get more of the millions of STEM research dollars available to them.
That was the message sent loud and clear at a two-day NSF Information Awareness and Capacity-Building Workshop that concluded Wednesday on the first day of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s 48th Annual Legislative Conference.
“Some are doing okay,” L. Rashawn Farrior told an audience of about 50 assembled at the Walter Washington Convention Center. “Some are doing better than others. Some we need to grab by the bootstraps and get you into the game. Think about this: Are you in the game? Or are you on the sideline?”
The evidence suggests that more are on the bench than in the game. Of the top 150 schools funded by the NSF, only two are HBCUs: Jackson State and North Carolina A&T universities, according to Farrior, a team lead in the Division of Grants & Agreements in NSF’s Office of Budget, Finance and Award Management.
The difference between those two universities and HBCUs that aren’t among the top NSF grantees is simple, Farrior said.
“There was a culture change and they made the investment,” he said. “So, rather than being an HBCU that does research, their paradigm shift is, ‘We are a research university that happens to be an HBCU.’ Notice the difference.”
The QEM Research Action and Practice (RAP) Symposium’s overall goal was to help HBCU leaders understand how to apply for NSF research grants and why doing so will benefit their students, schools and the communities where they are located as they seek to build research capacity through collaborations with STEM advocates and practitioners. The event was co-hosted with Howard University’s Office of Research on Tuesday and the CBCF on Wednesday.
