Project Grant 2417752

The National Science Foundation (NSF) Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences (SBE) program (CFDA 47.075) awarded a $136,402 Project Grant to the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) to establish an alliance with three other Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) in Texas. Through this alliance, the project will: 1) conduct research on issues of inequality and opportunity relevant to Texas and national contexts; 2) create physical and virtual research lab spaces with state-of-the-art computing resources at the participating HSIs; 3) facilitate student and faculty mentorship and collaboration across the alliance; and 4) prepare students from HSIs to enter graduate programs. The project aims to address the chronic underfunding faced by HSIs, which leads to infrastructural and technological disparities that disadvantage their students. By establishing the alliance and research infrastructure, the project seeks to improve the institutional competitiveness of the participating HSIs and create new pathways for their students to pursue advanced educational and professional opportunities.