Access NOAA - NOAA & Minority-Serving Institutions Launch Educational Partnership

NOAA & Minority-Serving Institutions
Launch Educational Partnership

With presidents and other academic leadership, NOAA recently launched a groundbreaking Educational Partnership Program with Minority-Serving Institutions. Commerce Secretary Donald Evans, Deputy Secretary Sam Bodman and Acting Under Secretary Scott Gudes participated in the celebration. Secretary Evans noted that this new initiative was in keeping with the Administration's focus on education and its goal to leave no student behind.

(left to right) Sonya Stewart, Chief Financial/Administrative Officer, NOAA; Scott Gudes, Acting NOAA Administrator; H. Patrick Swygert, president, Howard University, Washington, DC; Dr. Jackie Thomas, Interim President, University of Maryland -- Eastern Shore; Dr. Larry Robinson, Florida A&M University; Commerce Deputy Secretary Sam Bodman; Jocelyn B.Martin, Special Assistant to the Assistant Administrator, National Ocean Service; Arlene S. Porter, Minority-Serving Institutions Specialist, NOAA Grants Management Division; and Louisa Koch, Deputy Assistant Administrator, NOAA Research.

Announcement of the new partnership represents a milestone in NOAA's three-year effort to establish this partnership program with Minority-Serving Institutions to support the development and significant expansion of education, research and professional opportunities in NOAA-related sciences. "By creating opportunities like these for students, educators and researchers, we are building futures, furthering the goals of science and protecting the environment," Deputy Secretary Bodman said.

The new partnership is designed to support the development of quality education for students attending Minority-Serving Institutions while simultaneously addressing NOAA's mission and national needs. Both students and faculty will now have increased opportunity to pursue research and careers in NOAA-related sciences. Subject to appropriations, NOAA will award approximately $15 million to programs focused on atmospheric, environmental and ocean sciences, and remote sensing research, education and outreach activities over each of the next three years.

(left to right) Dr. Wilma Roscoe, Acting Director, National Association for Equal Opportunity in High Education; Earl Hayes, White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities; Commerce Deputy Secretary Bodman; and Barbara Lindler, White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

With key partners, Collaborative Science Centers are being established at four universities. As a vice president of Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, one of the new Cooperative Science Centers, Eddie Jackson said, "NOAA's Educational Partnership Program addresses the under- representation of African Americans and other minorities in the sciences, one of the critical problems in higher education today. There is a major need for representatives from under represented communities to play a major role in environmental issues that especially impact their communities."

(left to right) Scott Gudes; Dr. Jackie Thomas; Dr. Larry Robinson; and Commerce Deputy Secretary Bodman.

Deputy Secretary Bodman also announced that $3.3 million has been awarded to 13 Minority-Serving Institutions to develop educational and training programs in environmental sciences. The Environmental Entrepreneurship Program experiences will blend course work with practical stewardship and conservation activities. The program's goals are to educate and train students, create jobs, develop environmental outreach projects and effectively manage natural resources.

The new partnership includes the following three components:

Environmental Entrepreneurship Program
Through a competitive process, 13 financial assistance awards will be made annually to minority-serving institutions that support program development and environmental restoration activities with the aim of increasing the entry of individuals from under-represented groups into environmental fields.

Undergraduate Science Program
The Undergraduate Science Program provides a 10-week paid NOAA internship plus scholarships funds during the academic year. Students who continue academic training in a NOAA-related field and maintain a 3.0 GPA will be offered a second paid 10-week internship at a NOAA field site the following summer.

Graduate Sciences Program
The Graduate Sciences Program provides financial assistance to six students for graduate-level training in NOAA-related occupations. Students accepted into this program become NOAA employees and commit to a pre-determined NOAA tenure.

The new Cooperative Science Centers and their partners include:

Remote Sensing Cooperative Science Center
City College of the City University of New York

Lehman College, New York
Bronx Community College
University of Puerto Rico
University of Maryland
Bowie State University, Maryland
Hampton University, Virginia

Environmental Sciences Cooperative Science Center
Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University

South Carolina State University
Morgan State University, Maryland
Jackson State University, Mississippi
Delaware State University
University of Miami

Atmospheric Sciences Cooperative Science Center
Howard University, Washington, D.C.

University of Texas
Jackson State University, Mississippi
University of Puerto Rico

Living Marine Resources Cooperative Science Center
University of Maryland

Savannah State University, Georgia
University of Miami
Hampton University, Virginia
Delaware State University

For more details, please contact Jacqueline Rousseau, Acting Program Manager, 301-713-9437 or visit http://www.ofa.noaa.gov/~sdb/EPPS1.htm.