Obama Proposal Seeks to Consolidate Minority Undergraduate STEM Programs: The Obama administration wants to consolidate federal science programs for minority-serving institutions into a single competitive grant program, a plan that is drawing questions on Capitol Hill.The president’s 2011 budget would take separate small programs for historically Black colleges and universities, tribal colleges and Hispanic-serving institutions, and re-channel them into a single program, which administration officials said would still be aimed at students of color.
With minorities representing a steadily growing percentage of the U.S. population, “We have to find a way to accelerate growth,” said Dr. Arden Bement, Jr., National Science Foundation (NSF) director, to the House Research and Science Education Subcommittee.
“We felt a consolidated approach is far better than a fragmented approach,” added Bement.
