New NASA Partnership Program Adds More Research Organizations for Support Funding

NASA has selected the first 11 projects under its Science Mission Directorate’s Bridge Program for new research partnerships between the agency and U.S. institutions with no previous NASA funding.

The new program seeks to improve the diversity, inclusion and accessibility of the science and engineering communities. According to NASA, the initiative will usher in new collaborations with research partners that primarily include undergraduate institutions, as well as Hispanic-serving institutions, Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-serving institutions and historically black colleges and universities.

The 11 inaugural projects, with total grants valued at $3.7 million, connect research institutions to seven NASA centers for collaborative work on tasks that include designing and implementing science mission flight projects using cubesats.

The initial Bridge Program projects also include research on planetary science to address environmental pollution, lidar remote sensing to advance planetary boundary layer studies and additive electronics manufacturing for NASA applications.

Among the institutions collaborating with NASA centers in the first Bridge Program projects are Tuskegee University, the University of Colorado’s Laboratory for Atmospheric Science and Physics, Los Angeles California State University and Florida A&M University.

Applications for SMD Bridge Program funding are open till March 29.

NASA had previously awarded $12 million in research funding to eight historically black colleges and universities under the Data Science Equity, Access and Priority for Research and Education program to cultivate talent that would support future space missions and experiments.