NASA awarded UTRGV and 18 other minority-serving institutions a $1.2 million grant for earth science research to help mitigate climate change as well as research other planetary sciences.
Principal Investigator of the Grant and Assistant Professor of the School of Earth, Environmental, and Marine Sciences Tian Dong said the grant is coming from the NASA office of STEM engagement, with the goal to help minority students become better candidates for the STEM industry.
He expressed the goal for every school is for the graduating students to have the best career path opportunities, and with the internships that will now be available it will be more likely that graduates could find themselves working full time at NASA or other federal agencies.
Associate Professor of the School of Earth, Environmental, and Marine Sciences and Civil Engineering Chu-Lin Cheng said NASA invests a lot of money in instrumentations like satellites and rockets to collect data that is happening on earth.
He mentioned that although the data is available to the public, not everyone has the skill set to fully utilize the data.
Associate Professor of the School of Earth, Environmental, and Marine Sciences Engil Pereira explained how the grant will improve the existing curriculums in her field.
Dong said he is hopeful that this grant will bring a lot of attention to UTRGV which could hopefully lead to more students and new faculty wanting to come down to improve the quality of education.