Supported by an $81.6 million cooperative agreement from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the newly launched Hopkins-Morgan HBCU Consortium (HMHC) brings together eight universities to foster diversity and innovation in STEM fields, expanding access to real-world research opportunities for those in underrepresented groups.
Led by Johns Hopkins and Morgan State universities, the consortium is an expansion of the JHU Professional Research Experience Program (PREP) initiated in 2018 with a $30 million NIST award and administered by the Whiting School of Engineering’s Office of Research and Translation.
During PREP’s first five years, 133 people participated in the program, studying in areas ranging from sustainable energy and genetic analysis to biomedical sciences and community resilience to natural disasters. The newly configured consortium promises to amplify its impact.
“The additional funding enables us to build on five years of progress and use what we’ve learned to further strengthen the program even as we broaden its reach,” said Larry Nagahara, vice dean for research and translation at the Whiting School.
Morgan State will lead the consortium’s “HBCU Hub” of six Historically Black Colleges and Universities: Bowie State University, Coppin State University, North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University, Tuskegee University, and University of Maryland Eastern Shore. SUNY Binghamton University is also a member of the consortium.
The program, which combines instruction with hands-on experiences, enabling students from diverse academic backgrounds to work alongside NIST scientists, and helping them advance measurement science, is open to undergraduates, graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, and faculty, all of whom have the opportunity to work at labs at NIST’s Gaithersburg campus.
“For the past five years, Morgan State University, through our partnership with Johns Hopkins University in the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) Professional Research Experience Program (PREP), has provided several of our outstanding students the opportunity to conduct hands-on, cutting-edge research with scientists at one of the world’s most advanced research facilities,” said Willie E. May, vice president of research and economic development at Morgan State University, who is excited about the program’s expansion and the new opportunities it will provide.
Support for this effort continues through March 31, 2028.