Trump's executive order for Historically Black Colleges and Universities presents a significant chance for innovative, ambitious ideas
The United States government is taking steps to boost the research and development capabilities of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), aiming to enhance their competitiveness and contribute to the nation's global competitiveness.
In April 2021, President Donald Trump signed an executive order (EO) to promote excellence and innovation at HBCUs. The EO outlines a series of initiatives, including providing professional development opportunities for HBCU students, promoting centers of academic research and program excellence, and collaborating with agencies to improve their competitiveness for federal R&D funding.
Several Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs), across multiple federal agencies, are run by universities or university consortiums. However, the U.S. Air Force established its first-ever United Airlines-Affiliated Research Center (UARC) in 2023, the nation's 15th. This UARC was competitively selected, with a consortium of nine Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) led by Howard University chosen to advance 'tactical autonomy.'
The institutions selected by the Trump administration through the executive order include those represented on the reconstituted Board of Advisors on HBCUs. This board comprises representatives from philanthropy, education, business, finance, entrepreneurship, innovation, private foundations, and current HBCU presidents. The order also moved the White House Initiative on HBCUs to the Executive Office of the President and provided nearly $500 million to HBCUs and tribal colleges, aiming to boost their competitiveness and research capabilities.
Other Transactional Authorities (OTAs) are alternative contractual instruments that operate outside the traditional federal acquisition framework. These can help federal agencies to leverage the capacity of the HBCU R&D enterprise to advance critical objectives outlined in the EO. Collaborative research and development agreements (CRADAs) have been used widely in the Department of Defense to establish technology development public and private sector partnerships. A partnership intermediary agreement (PIA) is a formal mechanism that enables federal agencies to leverage non-profit partnerships for strategic engagement with academia and private industry. Pias facilitate cooperative activities including technical workshops, collaborative research initiatives, and knowledge exchange forums to expedite technology transfer and licensing processes.
The emerging great power competition between China, Russia, and the United States is shaping up to be a race for technological dominance. The United States is currently third among nations that produce post-secondary STEM graduates, behind China and India, and Russia just behind the United States. This global race for technological dominance is a race for talent, and the United States will need to grow its quantity of STEM talent significantly during this next decisive decade of great power competition.
The EO provides a growth opportunity for U.S. talent pipelines by calling upon federal agency heads, private-sector employers, educational associations, philanthropic organizations, and other partners to increase the capacity of HBCUs to provide the highest quality education to an increasing number of students. The EO aims to make 'our Nation more globally competitive.'
It is worth noting that UARCs must be affiliated with a university and are allowed to compete for public and private R&D contracts, whereas FFRDCs are not required to have university affiliation. This could potentially yield greater returns for the National initiatives for HBCUs outlined in Trump's recent EO.
In 2021, the nation's 14 UARCs received nearly $3.2B in funding from across the federal government. The scale and pace of the global strategic competition that lies ahead for the United States demands that this work begin now. The EO provides a platform to initiate a host of big box federal models to amplify HBCU excellence and innovation. CRADAs can help to accelerate implementation of FFRDC, PIA or OTA models to achieve objectives of the EO.
In conclusion, the executive order signed by President Trump in April 2021 is a significant step towards promoting excellence and innovation at Historically Black Colleges and Universities. The initiatives outlined in the EO, coupled with the use of alternative contractual instruments like OTAs, CRADAs, and Pias, aim to boost the research and development capabilities of HBCUs, making the United States more globally competitive in the race for technological dominance.
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