FAMU has been awarded three grants worth more than $1.3
million from the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National
Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA).
FAMU was among a select group of land-grant institutions
whose proposals were accepted under the grant program.
“For nearly 125 years, [FAMU] has played a vital role in
ensuring access to higher education and opportunities for underserved
communities,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “These
competitively-awarded grants support high-quality research, teaching and
extension activities, and support the continued leadership of 1890 institutions
in the fields of agriculture, the environment and public health.”
Two of the grants, which together exceed $450,000, were
awarded through the 1890 Institution Research, Extension and Teaching Capacity
Building Grants Program. The grants will support the university's agricultural
science programs while strengthening the linkage between other 1890 land-grant
institutions, the USDA and private industry.
The third grant was awarded through the 1890 Facilities
Grants Program. More than $900,000 will be provided to FAMU to assist in
acquiring and improving food science facilities, equipment and research
libraries.
The grant dollars will contribute to the FAMU College of
Agriculture and Food Sciences, and its Cooperative Extension Program's,
continued efforts to play a critical role in teaching students to meet the
high-quality, innovative research needs that are vital to the well-being of our
nation’s food, fuel and fiber.
FAMU Professors Neil James, Mehboob Sheikh, and Muhammad
Haseeb were the principal investigators for the grant proposals.
“The purpose of the grants are to continue capacity
training, enhance faculty skills and develop new teaching techniques,” said
Sheikh. “We want to be current with developing trends and technologies and with
providing training for our students and hands-on learning experience in the
laboratory.”