A One-Stop Shop
Funding and research opportunities are available for STEM faculty and students at minority-serving institutions, and one Web site provides access to this information.
By Ronald Roach
In 2005, Hurricane Katrina and its resulting floodwaters devastated the microbiology research laboratory that Dr. Tanya McKinney had established at Xavier University of Louisiana, a historically Black institution in New Orleans. She says it will take hundreds of thousands of dollars over several years to fully re-establish the lab, but she’s had little time to find the federal grants she needs to get it in working order.
Last spring, while at a National Science Foundation conference for science research professors, McKinney learned about the Science Diversity Center, a Web-based portal that has consolidated information on all the federal research funding targeted to faculty members at minority-serving institutions, or MSIs. Almost immediately, McKinney says she recognized the resource as one answer to her dilemma. Developed with backing from the National Science Foundation, the SDC has been unofficially up and running since last year, and helps faculty members, administrators and students save time in researching opportunities targeted towards minorities in the STEM disciplines — science, technology, engineering and math.
“Though I still haven’t had the time to apply for grants given that we are still coming back from Katrina, I’m checking the Science Diversity Center at least once a week,” McKinney says. “Rather than spend hours going through the general science grant Web sites, the Science Diversity Center allows me to find those specific opportunities aimed at minority-serving schools, such as Xavier.”
Dr. William E. McHenry, SDC’s chief developer, says that the center is comprehensive enough to help majority White schools develop programs and launch outreach efforts with the nation’s MSIs.
