Howard University announced Thursday that mechanical engineering professors have been awarded a $1.4 million U.S. Department of Energy grant to establish a manufacturing consortium.
Partnering with national labs, they will advance 3D printing and nuclear science research while training a diverse workforce.
In March 2026, Morgan State University secured $9 million in federal funding to advance microelectronics and urban health research.
The funding, secured through the fiscal year 2026 Commerce, Justice, Science appropriations bill and announced by bill advocates U.S. Senators Chris Van Hollen and Angela Alsobrooks, will strengthen Morgan’s capacity for cutting-edge research and workforce development in microelectronics and biomedical science.
This week, Morgan announced an $8.9 million grant to support the development of a molecular biology research lab and provide advanced equipment for the Center for Equitable Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Systems and the Center for Education and Research in Microelectronics.
“Federal investment in public research universities, like Morgan, is essential to cultivating the next generation of scientific discovery and innovation, because they empower institutions of higher learning to harness the intellectual capacity of emerging scholars, researchers and innovators whose work will shape the future of our nation and the world,” said Willie E. May, Ph.D., vice president for Research and Economic Development at Morgan State University.
Morgan will continue to advance impactful, issues-driven research that addresses pressing technological and health challenges, May said, adding that campus research not only strengthens the communities they serve in Baltimore but also contributes meaningfully to the broader national and global good.
On April 22, more than 450 student presenters marked the 30th anniversary of the Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement Day at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), which has one of the highest rates for undergraduates who do mentored research in the country.
Student participants showcased their diverse research and projects, including investigations into supermassive black holes, patterns of Antarctic tourism, the effects of 9/11 on U.S. immigration, and much more. UMBC reported more than $80 million in research and development expenditures in 2019, the highest reported amount since 2012.
Each year, the United States invests nearly $60 billion, less than 1% of the federal budget, in university research, shaping the future of science and technology. How is the money spent?
In a new book, Darren J. Lipomi, Ph.D., maps the full terrain for every citizen who pays taxes and wonders what happens with that investment, as well as for scientists, policymakers, and students.
Lipomi’s career has taken him from undergraduate training to research environments at Harvard and Stanford, and to faculty and leadership positions at the University of California, San Diego, and the University of Rochester.
There, he has led a research group and engaged with questions of scientific culture and reform.
He is a recognized voice in conversations about the future of academic science, combining technical expertise with a willingness to examine the institutions he has inhabited. He is the author of 150 scientific publications and licensed patents, and members of his research team have founded several companies.
He has received awards from the U.S. Air Force, the National Institutes of Health, and the National Science Foundation.
In 2019, he received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers from the White House.
He hosts a popular YouTube channel and its associated podcast, Molecular Podcasting with Darren Lipomi, which together have more than 2 million views and downloads.
Drawing on two decades of experience within academic institutions, Lipomi offers a candid account of what life looks like in the laboratories where the future is being made.
Part memoir, part institutional critique, and part call to action, Science Nonfiction is an insider’s guide to discovery and the systems that slow science down.
In Science Nonfiction: Behind The Scenes in University Research, Lipomi asks essential questions: What are the structural failures in the university research system, and how can they be fixed? Why does public understanding of academic research matter more now than ever? Who absorbs the cost when experiments fail? And does the current system, for all its brilliance, reliably produce the discoveries a democratic society needs?
Science Nonfiction: Behind the Scenes in University Research is published by Buckland Creek Press on June 1, 2026.
Lipomi examines how incentives, power dynamics, and institutional politics shape what science gets done, who gets credit, and which ideas are allowed to flourish.
