Terri Sindelar
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.                             May 
27, 1994
(Phone: 202/358-1977)                          


RELEASE:  94-85

NASA AWARDS RESEARCH GRANTS TO HISPANIC SERVING INSTITUTIONS

  NASA today announced the selection of six Hispanic Serving 
universities to receive five-year, Institutional Research Award 
(IRA) grants for multidisciplinary research in science and 
engineering.

  The universities will receive $400,000 the first year, $600,000 
the second year, $800,000 the third year and $1 million in the 
fourth and fifth years, totalling $3.8 million over the five-year 
period.

  The grant program targets institutions of higher education, 
especially Hispanic Serving Institutions that meet the eligibility 
criteria outlined in Public Law 102-325 in the higher education 
amendments of 1992, Tribal Colleges and other minority 
universities whose student enrollment of underrepresented 
minorities exceeds 50 percent.

  The grants will provide an increased opportunity for eligible 
institutions and underrepresented minorities to participate in and 
benefit from NASA and federal research programs by strengthening 
their capacity to perform research and by providing a learning and 
research environment for students.  Three of the research projects 
are in engineering, two in Earth science and one in space science.

  The universities selected to receive grants are:

  o  California State University at Los Angeles
  o  Florida International University, Miami
  o  New Mexico Highlands University, Las Vegas
  o  The City College of New York
  o  University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras
  o  University of Texas at San Antonio

  The IRA grant program is sponsored by the NASA Office of Equal 
Opportunity Programs in collaboration with NASA Headquarters 
program offices and installations and the Jet Propulsion 
Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

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