INDIANAPOLIS
Indiana University is joining with nine historically Black colleges and universities to boost the number of minorities seeking careers in science, starting with a summer program for promising students who will work at IU’s research laboratories.
IU President Adam Herbert, who announced The STEM Initiative during a Thursday news conference at IUPUI, said a $2 million endowment to fund a graduate student fellowship program is already in place to help get the effort off the ground.
He said the STEM program -- its name derives from science, technology, engineering and math -- aims to bring students from the mostly southern Black colleges to Indiana for educational opportunities. IU students and faculty will also be able to study or teach at the nine schools.
“This innovative undertaking unites several thousand students and faculty members across the nation around a common objective -- increasing the number of underrepresented minority graduate students, scholars and professionals in the STEM disciplines,” he said.
The presidents of three of the historically Black schools -- Jackson State, Alabama A&M and Morgan State -- attended Thursday’s announcement. The six other schools are: Bennett College for Women, Clark Atlanta University, Hampton University, Langston University, Morehouse College and Xavier University of Louisiana.
The STEM effort could help address the nation’s growing need to produce more scientists in the face of science powerhouses such as China and India that churn out thousands of engineers and scientists each year, said Charles M. Greene, the executive director for the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
“In this country, that problem is widespread but it’s particularly difficult with minorities and other underrepresented folks,” Greene said.
The STEM program begins in June, when up to 20 juniors and seniors from IU and the nine colleges will take part in an eight-week summer scholars program. They will work on research projects with IU professors and students at the IU-Bloomington or IUPUI campuses.
