Executive Summary

Overview: Georgia Tech is committed to collaborating with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) in research across various fields including engineering, liberal arts, humanities, social sciences, clean energy, physical and life sciences, sustainability, and computer science. Despite past successes, these collaborations have lacked strategic focus, sustainability, and mutual benefit. Recent legislative initiatives such as the Justice40 Initiative and the HBCU PARTNERS ACT underscore the need for enhanced collaboration with underrepresented groups, providing a timely opportunity for Georgia Tech to lead in innovative and competitive research partnerships.

Initiative Goals: The HBCU/MSI Initiative, under the Office of the VP for Interdisciplinary Research, aims to strategically expand research collaborations with ERIs, including HBCUs and MSIs, and focus on areas of mutual interest to foster a vibrant research environment. The initiative supports Georgia Tech’s mission to lead in innovative and competitive research and to build capacity at partner institutions, ensuring that these collaborations are impactful and sustainable.

Mission & Vision:

  • Mission: Our mission is to cultivate an environment of research excellence and innovation through strategic partnerships with ERIs, including HBCUs/MSIs, by fostering interdisciplinary initiatives to advance knowledge, solve societal challenges, and foster a research community that embraces a variety of perspectives and backgrounds.   
  • Vision: We will identify and foster research collaborations between Georgia Tech, HBCUs, and other MSIs across multiple disciplines of mutual interest.  Through our unwavering commitment to expand access to HBCUs/MSIs, we strive to break down barriers, cultivate thought leaders, and amplify the impact of HBCUs as a necessary ecosystem in research. Together, we envision pioneering technological breakthroughs and empowering a wide range of voices and viewpoints to drive advancements in knowledge and make a global impact. 

Strategic Objectives:

  1. Develop strategic partnerships with HBCUs/MSIs based on common research interests and anticipated future research and collaboration opportunities
  2. Support bottom-up collaborations between GT and HBCU/MSI faculty
  3. Track and manage collaborations between GT and HBCU/MSI partners
  4. Enhance visibility and communication of research derived from partnerships with HBCUs and MSIs

This strategic expansion plan is designed to elevate Georgia Tech’s role as a leader in innovative research, strengthen its partnerships with HBCUs and MSIs, and contribute to groundbreaking advancements in various research fields.