Science and Engineering Alliance (SEA) to Help Enhance Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) Develop Contract Management Capacity

The Science and Engineering Alliance, Inc. (SEA) has been awarded a $56,000 grant by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation of Battle Creek, Michigan to enhance its capacity to assist Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) and small majority institutions in developing their ability to effectively manage contracts.

(PRWEB) June 15, 2005 -- The Kellogg grant will support an 18-month pilot project by SEA in which two (2) institutions will be selected to develop and test a training and technical assistance model that will reside with SEA, and will be made available to other MSIs and small majority institutions.

The pilot project activities will consist of an assessment of the institutions contract management capabilities, the development of training modules to enhance the institutions contract management capabilities, training of institutional staff, identifying sources of potential contracts, matching institutions capabilities with contracting needs, assisting the pilot institutions in securing a contract and monitoring and providing technical assistance during the contract period.

This project fits well with the mission of SEA," noted Dr. Robert L. Shepard, SEA Executive Director and Project Director of the Kellogg Grant. "Enabling minority serving institutions to garner increased contract support for their faculty and students, is moving these institutions in the right direction."

After the pilot program is evaluated and appropriate modifications are made, SEA will make the contract management capacity ability available to other institutions.

Dr. Tyrone R. Baines, the projects Principle Investigator said, We are moving from a 'grant-centered to 'contract-centered environment in revenue generation and MSIs and small majority institutions will need to develop contract management skills to be successful in securing needed funds. Developing these skills will help these institutions make a significant contribution to some important contract needs in our country."

SEA is a Washington, DC based non-profit organization established in 1990 to address the challenge of establishing an ethnically diverse technical workforce prepared to compete in todays global marketplace. Its unique program is dedicated to ensuring that historically underrepresented talent plays a vital role in the nations scientific and engineering future. Public and private sector organizations seeking to enhance their intellectual talent pool can look to SEA member institutions to provide quality scientists and first-rate scientific research.

SEA members include: Alabama A&M University (Huntsville, AL); Jackson State University (Jackson, MS); Prairie View A&M University (Prairie View, TX) and Southern University and A&M College (Baton Rouge, LA), and two national laboratories -- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in Livermore, CA and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Gaithersburg, MD. SEA serves as a Unique Resource for the Nation®" that focuses on creating opportunities for access and inclusion of its members more fully in the public and private research and development enterprise.

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation was established in 1930 to help people help themselves through the practical application of knowledge and resources to improve their quality of life and that of future generations." Its programming activities center around the common vision of a world in which each person has a sense of worth; accepts responsibility for self, family, community, and societal well-being; and has the capacity to be productive, and to help create nurturing families, responsive institutions, and healthy communities.

To achieve the greatest impact, the Foundation targets its grants toward specific areas. These include: health; food systems and rural development; youth and education; and philanthropy and volunteerism. Within these areas, attention is given to exploring learning opportunities in leadership; information and communication technology; capitalizing on diversity; and social and economic community development. Grants are concentrated in the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the southern African countries of Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe.

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