HBCUs Archives

August 27, 2015August 27, 2015

If You Know A College Bound Youngster You Must See What The Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Program Has To Offer

The Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF) has launched the application process for the inaugural year of the Apple HBCU Scholars Program, the largest and most comprehensive scholarship effort in HBCU history. Thirty successful undergraduate student recipients will be awarded sizable scholarships and receive year-long mentorships by Apple employees to include a paid internship at Apple headquarters next summer. The scholarship program is open to students in their final year of study from all of the nation’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) and Predominately Black Institutions (PBI).

“There are “scholarships” and then there are “scholarship programs,” said TMCF President & CEO Johnny C. Taylor, Jr. “Apple has made an historic investment in a scholarship program that will transform the lives of HBCU star students by not only removing the financial barriers to college attendance, but by providing them additional non-financial program elements like Apple mentors and summer internships. These Apple HBCU Scholars will be the future tech industry leaders.”

The Apple HBCU Scholars Program is the first of several programs under the new Apple and TMCF Diversity Initiative. In March, Apple and TMCF announced a partnership to identify, develop and harness talent from the nation’s community of HBCU’s. The over $40 million multiyear commitment from Apple is the largest and most comprehensive corporate investment ever given exclusively for students and faculty of four-year HBCUs. The multi-year commitment includes funding to build a talent database, internships for high achieving students, exposure to Apple’s campus and work environment, and funding of faculty innovation grants focused on developing successful ways to accelerate HBCU students into the tech field. Through TMCF’s entrepreneurial division, select students who have desires to build businesses using technology will have an opportunity to attend Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference and discover new pathways to successful entrepreneurship through developing new ideas and new apps.

“This program is about exposing gifted students from HBCU’s to a career in technology. We’re big believers that innovation will be strongest when talented people from diverse backgrounds are part of the creative process,” said Denise Young Smith, Apple’s Vice President of Worldwide Human Resources. “That’s why we’re so proud to be partnering with TMCF to help us find the next generation of innovators.”

The Scholars Program will provide students with a diverse and valuable set of learning and personal growth opportunities that include: a scholarship up to $25,000 for their senior year of studies; a summer internship at Apple headquarters in Cupertino, California; participation in a year-round development program to prepare for post-graduation careers; pairing with an Apple employee mentor during students’ senior year; the opportunity to serve as Ambassadors on their HBCU campuses to build awareness for the Apple and TMCF Diversity Initiative; the opportunity to attend TMCF’s Annual Leadership Institute in Washington, DC in November 2015; and participation in the Apple HBCU Immersion experience in Cupertino, California during the spring of 2016.

The application process is open now and will close on September 18, 2015. For information on the TMCF Apple Diversity Initiative, visit tmcf.org and follow @TMCF_HBCU on Twitter.

May 25, 2015May 30, 2015

UNCF Announces Michael Jackson and Ray Charles Scholarships

The United Negro College Fund strives to make education affordable for African-American students by providing financial resources where other scholarship organizations fall short.

On May 19, the UNCF has announced that singer, dancer and King of Pop Michael Jackson along with R&B legend Ray Charles will have scholarships in their honor. Each scholarship has different requirements. However, both scholarships are only awarded to students who attend UNCF colleges and universities.

The Michael Jackson Scholarship is available to all students who are high school seniors and college students with a minimum GPA of 3.0 on the 4.0 scale. Perspective applicants will need to complete an application on the UNCF site, write an essay and submit a transcript.

The UNCF states that “the scholarship will provide an award up to $5,000 depending on the financial need of the student as verified by the attending university or college. This is a one-time award to be disbursed in September 2015.”

The Ray Charles Endowed Scholarship is for college juniors who have a 3.0. Perspective applicants will have to complete an application and demonstrate unmet financial needs. The total amount awarded to the student is up to $4,500.

Both of these scholarships are due in June. Michael Jackson Scholarship applicants would need to complete all materials by June 13. For the Ray Charles Endowed Scholarship, the date is June 14.

February 26, 2015February 26, 2015

HBCUs Are on Track to Becoming Major Creative, Innovative Centers for Young Black Minds

When most people think about universities and colleges producing the innovators and thought leaders of tomorrow, they typically imagine Ivy League schools that tend to lack in diversity. The innovators in their minds typically take on the form of Mark Zuckerberg or Bill Gates as white males have been known to dominate the tech space.

As it turns out, however, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) all across the nation are home to some bright minds that have already made major steps in scientific advancement and technological innovation.

Perhaps two of the most attention-grabbing developments from HBCU students are a hypoallergenic peanut in the works and patent-driven developments on what could soon become the most efficient self-parking and self-driving car to date.

Agricultural researchers at North Carolina A&T University in Greensboro, North Carolina, are leading efforts to perfect a process that could eliminate allergens from a peanut without impacting its taste.

Peanut allergies are among the most common allergies Americans face, which makes the researchers’ work all the more important.

The innovative minds behind the project are hoping to reduce the allergenic properties in peanuts by as little as 30 percent and as much as 100 percent.

This would ultimately mean people who have long suffered from peanut allergies would no longer have anything to worry about.

The researchers already have a patent filed for the technology they are using to create the hypoallergenic peanut.

Meanwhile, another patent filed by students at Florida A&M University in Tallahassee, Florida, has garnered just as much attention.

These two inventors, Sihle Wilson and Ronald Benson, are helping to make major technological advancements as consumers have their fingers crossed for the first self-driving and self-parking car to hit the market soon.

It’s a project that tech giants like Google have also been embarking on, and BMW recently unveiled a car that has the potential to locate its own parking spot.

While these companies have made major strides and seem to be on the brink of figuring out how to efficiently get a car to park itself under any circumstances, there are major bugs in the system that are preventing the futuristic cars from becoming a reality for consumers.

The two Florida A&M University software engineers may be able to make the final push to perfect such complicated technologies.

Their “Autonomous Passenger Retrieval System for Automobiles” uses artificial intelligence to give vehicles some impressive features, their parent file suggests. These impressive features, such as detecting people and other cars, would be able to help the vehicle steer itself and safely find a parking spot until its owner returns.

“The automated driving system also is configurated to direct a vehicle to its owner and detect the presence of another vehicle or pedestrian to evade potential collisions,” Black Engineer wrote of the two students’ project. “Wilson and Benson further designed the valet process to be built into a vehicle as standard/optional equipment or as an add-on part.”

Such major contributions to science and technology coming from HBCU-affiliated researchers and students serve as proof that the nation has a lot to gain from investing in Black students.

For this reason, Dr. John Michael Lee, the vice president of the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, hopes HBCUs will continue to “foster innovation” and “commercialization” to give their students the chance to compete in the tech world on a global scale.

He also hopes federal efforts will continue to contribute to bright Black minds that have the potential to revolutionize science and technology for the better.

So far, President Barack Obama has launched a massive campaign that helped push for $260 million in public-private financial commitments for increased STEM literacy.

The National Science Foundation has also been a huge support system for Black innovators and HBCU students.

The foundation reports that HBCUs received $547 million in research and development dollars in 2011. Those NSF grants included a total of $350,000 that was awarded to students at Tuskegee University back in 2012 so they could further their studies of the “interplay between psychosocial and academic structural factors that affect retention of minority students at HBCUs,” Black Engineer reported.

The stunning amount of financial backing for HBCUs is a positive sign that the NSF has faith in what these students have the ability to accomplish, discover and invent.

Now, Lee says, the spotlight is on the individual HBCUs to step up and make sure they continue growing their historic institutions into hubs that foster creativity and innovation.

“HBCUs must invest in the infrastructure to deliver innovation and entrepreneurship including creating opportunities for students to take a leading role in developing and producing innovation, create tech transfer officers to facilitate student and faculty start-ups, idea incubation and commercialization, create new institutional courses, change faculty pedagogy and develop partnerships that will lead to success for students at HBCUs,” Lee said, according to Black Engineer.