Engaging the full breadth of talent in the U.S. is an important component of growing and sustaining the nation’s global leadership in research and development and supporting national security.

A Plan to Promote Defense Research at Minority-Serving Institutions, a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, recommends ways to develop and strengthen the research capacity of historically Black colleges and universities, Tribal colleges and universities, and other minority-serving institutions (MSIs) so that they can contribute more fully to defense-related research.

MSIs provide a unique opportunity to cultivate the current and future U.S. population for careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, which are critical to the U.S. Department of Defense, national security, and global competition, the report says. It identifies a range of steps that the DOD, MSIs, Congress, and other federal agencies should take to strengthen research facilities and infrastructure at MSIs, expand research opportunities for scholars at these institutions, and build effective partnerships among MSIs, DOD labs, and other research centers.

The report is available for immediate release. For inquiries, reporters should contact the Office of News and Public Information at tel. 202-334-2138 or email news@nas.edu.

Members of the committee that wrote the report will discuss it at a webinar starting at 11 a.m. EDT on Tuesday, Aug. 20.