Here is this week’s news of grants or gifts to historically Black colleges and universities or for programs of particular interest to African Americans in higher education.
Edwin Aroke, an assistant professor in the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Nursing, has received two one-year grants from the university to continue his research into racial disparities in pain. One study looks at the mechanistic role of epigenetics, while the other examines decision-making in pain management by health care providers. Dr. Aroke holds a master’s degree in nursing from Duke University and a Ph.D. in nursing science from the University of Massachusetts Medical Center in Worcester.
Jackson State University, a historically Black educational institution in Mississippi, received a $475,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to conduct research on water-soluble iron oxide nanoparticles that aim to understand the fundamental principles for delivering timed-released dosages of medicines such as chemotherapy while not destroying healthy cells and reducing side effects.
Historically Black Claflin University in Orangeburg, South Carolina, has been awarded a grant from Leadership Education, a non-degree-granting initiative of Duke Divinity School in Durham, North Carolina. The funding from the grant will be used to help strengthen and build capacity for Claflin’s Granville Hicks Leadership Academy for Clergy and Laity and improve the church history archives in the university’s library.
Elizabeth City State University, a historically Black educational institution in North Carolina, received a $400,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to enhance STEM education for underrepresented students in North Carolina. The university will establish a renewable energy laboratory with solar and wind training systems and simulation software. The training will include a wind lab focusing on wind turbine power systems. A residential summer Freshman Bridge Academy will also be established.