Morgan State University, Bowie State University and the University of Maryland, Eastern Shore, have received a $4 million grant to continue research work on aeronautic and aerospace safety-related projects.
The three historically black institutions, partners with National Aerospace and Space Administration in the Chesapeake Aeronautics Consortium, will use the money to fund faculty and student-assisted engineering studies of aeronautical and cockpit safety, as well as guidance systems analysis, said Eugene DeLoatch, dean of Morgan?s School of Engineering.
The partnership, launched three years ago between the schools and NASA, has research projects lined up until 2012, DeLoatch said, but must produce tangible results each year to continue to win funding.
Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., announced the grant at a recent press conference with DeLoatch and Morgan State University president Earl S. Richardson on the North Baltimore campus. Mikulski is a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee and the senior Democrat on the Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice and Science, which funds NASA.
“Our nation today is in an amazing race for discovery and new knowledge to foster an innovation society,” Mikulski said. “I want Maryland to win that race. With programs like this, and dedicated students like these, I know we can make that happen.”
The grant highlights Morgan?s growing role in engineering education statewide,
“When the engineering school was first aligned with the university in 1984, 1 percent of the engineering work force in the state were African-American,” DeLoatch said. “Now it?s 19 percent. We still have ways to go. However, the number of minorities enrolled in public universities in Maryland is 40 percent.”
The consortium?s efforts also point to the importance of the aerospace, aeronautical and defense industry in Maryland.
“There are 76 types of aerospace and aviation industry in Maryland,” DeLoatch said. “It?s of tremendous economic importance to Maryland and we need to keep coming up with programs and developing students to sustain that development. This is a win-win situation.”
