[SatNews] Four universities will receive funding...

NASA has awarded grants to four universities and their partner institutions that serve large numbers of minority and underrepresented students to strengthen programs in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). The grants total approximately $600,000 and are provided through NASA's Curriculum Improvement Partnership Award for the Integration of Research (CIPAIR) project. Scientists and educators from the academic community, private industry, the National Science Foundation and NASA selected the awardees after reviewing proposals. The four institutions and their partners will receive one-year funding of about $150,000 for up to three years, based on performance and availability of funds.

The selected institutions and their partners are

• California State University, San Bernardino, and College of the Desert in Palm Desert, Calif.
• Fond Du Lac Tribal College in Cloquet, Minn.
• Rust College in Holly Springs, Miss., and Mid-South Community College in West Memphis, Ark.
• Navajo Technical College in Crownpoint, N.M.

These awards continue NASA's commitment of achieving a broad-based, competitive aerospace research and technology development capability among the nation's historically black colleges and universities, tribal colleges and universities, and Hispanic and other minority-serving institutions. CIPAIR is managed for NASA by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. NASA invests in projects that will build, sustain, and provide a skilled, knowledgeable and diverse work force to meet the agency and the country's emerging needs.