The Pentagon announced Tuesday a $40 million investment to establish research centers of excellence at four universities as part of DOD’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority-serving Institutions Research and Education Program, according to a press release.

The new centers are:

• Arizona State University – Center of Excellence in Future Generation Wireless Technology (FutureG)
• Florida International University – DoD Center of Excellence for Integrated Renewable Energy and Energy Storage
• Georgia State University – DoD Center of Excellence in Advanced Computing and Software
• Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University – Research and Education Program for Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority-serving Institutions (Integrated Sensing and Cyber)

“Establishing the centers at minority-serving institutions also strengthens the STEM pipeline by improving the skillsets of future scientists and engineers, preparing them for careers that will help advance the department’s research enterprise,” said Evelyn Kent, the outreach director of DOD’s HBCU/MI program.

Navy photo by John F. Williams