February 25, 2018
Researchers from HACU-member institutions participate in NSF Research project
Three researchers from Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) member institutions were among the participants of a workshop on February 23-25, 2018, as part of an NSF-funded program, held at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC).
The focus of the study is on “Food and Water Security Research.” A second workshop designed to solidify research proposals will be planned for early summer.
HACU Senior Vice President and COO John Moder serves as one of the project’s co-principal investigators along with professors from UIUC and representatives from the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education (NAFEO) and the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC).
A total of eleven participants were selected: three from Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI), three from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU), one from a Tribal College and four from the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign. The following are the HSI participants:
- Maria Plaza, Associate Professor, Food Science and Technology Program, University of Puerto Rico Mayagüez
- Joanne Rampersad, Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
- Balaji Sethuramasamyraja, Associate Professor, Jordan College of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, California State University-Fresno
The NSF program brings together participants from different cultural, educational and disciplinary backgrounds to collaborate in developing research proposals.