Binghamton University Aligns With 6 HBCUs to Accelerate Research

Binghamton University is unifying six historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) to accelerate research and graduate opportunities at the schools.

Binghamton announced its collaboration with the Thurgood Marshall College Fund to create the New Educational and Research Alliance (New ERA), partnering with Alabama A&M University, Central State University in Ohio, Tuskegee University in Alabama, Prairie-View A&M University in Texas, the University of the District of Columbia, and Virginia State University.

The Thurgood Marshall College Fund is the largest organization exclusively representing the Black college community.

“Binghamton has a reputation of being a great research university, and some of our HBCUs are on the verge of becoming great in some areas,” said founder of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, N. Joyce Payne. “This was a prime opportunity to bring the two communities together to start the conversation.”

The New ERA schools will share labs, lab equipment, and facilities with each other to conduct joint research projects in artificial intelligence (AI), data science, cybersecurity, materials, biomedical engineering, smart energy, future manufacturing, healthcare, and agriculture.

One of New ERA’s goals is to create a diverse graduate student pipeline in engineering and computer science through mentorships, joint courses, and summer internships.

“The Thurgood Marshall College Fund represents 47 universities in 22 states, the District of Columbia, and the Virgin Islands,” said Payne. “If we can make this model work between Binghamton and our HBCUs and Thurgood Marshall, then we can replicate it for the other 41 universities.”