HSRU Alliance Awarded $9.3M DoD Grant
Co-led by UTEP and UCF, project supports research in defense-related fields and best practices to support applications to grad school
EL PASO, TX (Dec. 19, 2024) — The Alliance of Hispanic-Serving Research Universities (HSRU) will lead a project to increase the number of doctoral graduates in technical fields from its 22 institutions from across the nation. The initiative is supported by a new $9.3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD).
The effort will be co-led by The University of Texas at El Paso and the University of Central Florida (UCF) and is titled Hispanic Serving Research Institutions Research and STEM Education (HSI-RSE).
The project aims to address the critical need for high-quality STEM talent for national defense by accelerating advanced research, enhancing collaboration on best practices and expanding access to STEM education and research. In addition to funding defense-related research projects, the effort will identify and mentor highly qualified undergraduate students through applications to graduate school at all 22 Alliance institutions.
Azuri L. Gonzalez, Ed.D., executive director of HSRU and director of partnerships and operations at UTEP’s Diana Natalicio Institute for Hispanic Student Success, serves as the project’s principal investigator. Co-principal investigators include Grace Bochenek, Ph.D., director of the School of Modeling, Simulation, and Training at UCF, and Shery Welsh, Ph.D., executive director of the Aerospace Center at UTEP.
“We are excited to lead this transformative project that directly supports our mission of increasing access to STEM education for underrepresented groups,” said Gonzalez. “This grant provides a unique opportunity to shape the future of STEM fields as a multi-institutional consortium.”
Key components of the initiative include cohort-based fellowship advising for graduate students, graduate student fellowships, competitive research opportunities focused on DOD technical priorities and leadership programs for both faculty and students.
“By leveraging the strengths of institutions across the Alliance, we aim to build robust pathways for talented STEM students ready to contribute to national security and innovation,” said Cynthia Larive, Ph.D., chancellor of the University of California, Santa Cruz, and chair of the HSRU Alliance. “This is a critical step toward ensuring that the U.S. remains at the forefront of global scientific and technological advancement.”
“We have worked very closely with the Department of Defense to set up a program that does exceptional research in areas important to national security and supports more graduate students,” said Heather Wilson, UTEP President and inaugural HSRU Chair. “I’m particularly pleased that the graduate fellowship model that has been successful at UTEP will be extended across the Alliance so that more exceptional students can find their way into the nation’s advanced engineering and scientific workforce."
The grant will run through 2029. HSRU officials will seek to expand this cooperative model to include partnerships with other federal agencies in the future.
For more information about HSRU’s work, visit the alliance’s homepage at www.hsru.org.
About the Alliance of Hispanic-Serving Research Universities:
Established in 2022, the Alliance of Hispanic Serving Research Universities (HSRU) is a voluntary association of the 22 Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) that are also in the top 5% of universities in the United States for research as determined by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. Hispanic Serving Institutions are defined by Title V of the Higher Education Act, where at least 25% of their undergraduate student enrollment is Hispanic.
Last Updated on December 19, 2024 at 12:00 AM | Originally published December 19, 2024
By MC Staff UTEP Marketing and Communications
