NASA recently announced Lincoln University of Missouri (LU) as one of the eight HBCUs competitively chosen to receive funding through their new Data Science Equity, Access, and Priority (DEAP) research and education opportunity.
NASA allotted a total of $11.7 million to these selected institutions through their Minority University Research and Education Project (MUREP), which provides financial assistance through competitive grants to higher education institutions that recruit and retain underrepresented students into STEM fields: science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. As part of this funding, Lincoln University will receive $1.5 million over three years to train graduate and undergraduate students in data science use for natural resources — on projects related to soil science, wildfire and climate change.
“There are not enough minority and underserved people who are using data science and artificial intelligence in the workforce,” said Lincoln University Assistant Professor of Natural Resources Dr. Sougata Bardhan, the LU project leader on this initiative.
According to Dr. Bardhan, the goal of NASA’s MUREP program is to increase the number of unrepresented and minority populations within the STEM workforce. For this initiative, he said that college students will be “provided with the necessary education to fulfill those workforce needs and diversify the field.”
Lincoln University has partnered with Harvard University, University of Missouri and Tennessee State University on this initiative. Ten Lincoln students will visit Harvard University every year for two weeks throughout the duration of the 3-year project. The goal of these trips is to inspire students to further their education and see how an institution like Harvard operates, while gaining an opportunity to meet and network with faculty and peers.
