Collaborative Research: Ideas Lab: HBCU Research and Collaboration Exchange

This project aims to significantly enhance the research capacity, visibility, and stature of faculty at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) by establishing a comprehensive expertise directory. While the nation’s HBCUs are the source of many talented faculty, researchers, and students conducting important, transformational research, there are often barriers and challenges that prevent these faculty, researchers, and students from receiving recognition or access to critical resources. By connecting researchers across HBCUs, this project addresses fundamental challenges of visibility, accessibility, and collaboration that many HBCU faculty face, particularly at smaller, geographically isolated, or less resourced institutions. The project will facilitate easier access to collaborators and resources, thus broadening participation in science and engineering, supporting educational opportunities, and enhancing within the national research community. This project aids in overcoming the isolation experienced by researchers, especially at smaller HBCUs, and expands opportunities to build research collaborations between and strengthen research infrastructure across HBCUs. As a result, this project supports the cultivation of an innovative STEM workforce, which is crucial for maintaining the United States' global competitiveness in science and technology. This pilot project, HBCU Research and Collaboration Exchange (HBCU RaCE) focuses on the development and deployment of an expertise directory across six participating HBCUs: Alabama A&M University, Fisk University, North Carolina Central University, the University of the Virgin Islands, Virginia State University, and Winston Salem State University. This directory will collect, curate, and provide access to detailed profiles of faculty research interests, publications, and projects, facilitating increased inter-institutional collaboration and resource sharing. The project will leverage an advanced research information management system with the support of an external contractor to ensure the directory is comprehensive, user-friendly, and effectively integrated across institutions. Key activities include data collection, expert representation, interface design, and the development of standardized data protocols to ensure consistency and accuracy. The directory’s impact on research collaboration and capacity will be directly assessed through metrics such as grant submissions, research expenditures, and faculty engagement, supplemented by social network analyses to quantify changes in collaboration patterns. By providing empirical data on the effectiveness of expertise directories in expanding research activity, this pilot project has the potential to inform best practices for enhancing research collaboration across diverse HBCUs and other types of institutions, ultimately contributing to a more robust scientific community. Through these efforts, HBCU RaCE will not only have the potential to advance scientific knowledge but could also strengthen the research workforce and educational landscapes of the involved HBCUs and surrounding communities. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.