Federal Grant Award Summary

Texas A&M University-San Antonio received a $100,000 Project Grant from the National Science Foundation's Office of Multidisciplinary Activities under the Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences program (CFDA 47.075), awarded October 1, 2025, with completion scheduled for September 30, 2026. This planning grant supports the development of an academic research center designed to integrate social and biological sciences with community knowledge to advance epidemic control strategies. The primary deliverable is foundational planning and design work that will establish the organizational, financial, and operational infrastructure for a future research center focused on community-engaged epidemic management.

The grant funds collaborative exploration among public health experts, social scientists, and community stakeholders to address a central research question regarding infrastructure that supports epidemic interventions appropriate to socially vulnerable populations' social norms, cultural values, language needs, and economic realities. Through a community-based participatory research approach combined with human-centered systems thinking, the project will generate planning outputs that inform the design of "socially astute" epidemic management systems—those that affected communities consider appropriate in terms of core values, feasibility, fairness, and health benefits. As a Hispanic-serving institution with demonstrated capacity in federally funded research and community-focused initiatives, Texas A&M University-San Antonio will leverage its regional position and mission to serve underrepresented populations to advance this public health infrastructure planning effort.