1

Introduction

The research and development (R&D) landscape in the United States, including previously sponsored Department of Defense (DOD) R&D, has profoundly impacted the lives of Americans and the nation’s systems of health, innovation, and security domestically and globally. The R&D ecosystem has precipitated new therapeutics, advancements in energy production, industries, and the science and technology necessary to protect the nation’s defense and security, including dual use technologies. Many lifesaving advancements are considered “dual use technology.” For example, the same satellite imagery exploitation software used to find strategic missile threats is used to find cancerous cells in women’s breasts. Since World War II, DOD and other federal agencies have been instrumental in supporting the R&D of the dual-use technologies that have been precipitates of the U.S. R&D ecosystem (NRC, 1994). For these capabilities to continue to advance, it is increasingly important that the full breadth of the nation’s R&D capacity is prepared and engaged to support its current and future needs. Minority-serving institutions (MSIs) provide a channel through which the DOD investments in R&D capacity can develop new strategic alliances, find new talent, and drive technology to compete against global adversaries.

In 2022, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (the National Academies) released a consensus study entitled Defense Research Capacity at Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Other Minority Institutions: Transitioning from Good Intentions to Measurable

Outcomes (NASEM, 2022). The report provided overarching conclusions and recommendations on how the DOD and Congress can increase the engagement of historically underfunded and underrecognized communities and institutions in national security. The recommendations include increased appropriations, long-term institutional support, better data tracking and metrics gathering, and learning from other federal agencies on best practices to fully engage Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs), Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs), and other MSIs. The study committee developed two frameworks for agencies and institutions to understand (1) the elements of institutional capacity to procure and administer DOD-related research, and (2) the spectrum of research activity across MSIs. These frameworks were designed to help the DOD and institutions assess where within the research spectrum a given institution exists and what variables are necessary to strengthen its research experience, productivity, and capacity.

This current report responds to a request from the DOD for strategies to build on these frameworks and recommendations so that the DOD, Congress, institutions, and other stakeholders can move forward.

IMPORTANCE AND TIMELINESS OF STUDY

Competition among nations provides an incentive for increased support for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Success in this competition includes targeted investments in R&D that support innovation and education of a STEM-ready workforce (Mazarr et al., 2018). While the United States remains a leader globally, several countries have increased their STEM investments with the goal of supplanting U.S. standing. The impact is exacerbated by competition with countries that have taken an aggressive posture with the United States. In this environment, national security runs the risk of becoming compromised if investments in STEM are not only maintained but increased to safeguard the nation’s status amidst this competition. In recent years, countries such as China have operationalized ambitious policies to increase their highly skilled STEM workforce, expanding the number of citizens who are able to engage in their STEM enterprise and support their national defense. It is estimated that by 2025, excluding international graduates, China will produce three times more STEM PhDs than the United States (Zwetsloot et al., 2021). To continue a homogeneous path will yield the same results and the country runs the risk of falling behind its adversaries, with national

security and defense becoming vulnerable. Alternately, cognitively diverse perspectives in R&D can help with problem-solving, innovation, and out-of-the-box thinking when challenges rise.

To address historical inequities and the importance of increasing access and engagement of underserved communities in the U.S. STEM ecosystem, the White House released a national vision for “STEMM Equity and Excellence” in late 2022 (White House Office of Science & Technology Policy, 2022). The vision statement calls for the federal government to work to dismantle barriers of access that contribute to the historical underinvestment in underrepresented communities and that impact American global competitiveness. Congress and federal agencies have underscored this need by developing programs and introducing legislation with the goal of increasing the U.S. R&D performer base, specifically targeting MSIs as conduits for increasing the diversity of institutions and individuals that support the U.S. STEM enterprise. Since 1987, the National Defense Authorization Acts (NDAAs) have directed the DOD to establish programs and policies that support capacity building at MSIs, recognizing that more needs to be done to systematically increase engagement and participation in defense-related R&D.

In response to H.R. 7900–NDAA for FY23 Sec. 233 (Appendix C) and the NDAA for FY20 Sec. 220,¹ the DOD approached the National Academies to identify tangible frameworks for increasing the participation of MSIs in defense-related R&D and, where possible, identify the necessary mechanisms for elevating some MSIs to R1 status (doctoral universities with very high research activity) on the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education scale.² Research activity at MSIs does add to the body of knowledge. Whether at primarily undergraduate or graduate-degree institutions, it also contributes to the education of talent in STEM and other fields. As students work in research activities in laboratories, in archives, or with complex datasets, they learn their disciplines in depth and ready themselves to serve the nation. Research can be an essential dimension of education at the college level or in advanced study, whether at TCUs, HBCUs, or HSIs. It must be noted that research in U.S. higher education is not only the province of Carnegie R1 institutions. Primarily undergraduate

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¹ Text - H.R.7776 - 117th Congress (2021-2022): James M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023. (2022, December 23). https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/7776/text.

² For more information on the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, see https://carnegieclassifications.acenet.edu/.

institutions contribute significantly to knowledge formation, not only in the sciences but also in domains such as area studies or international affairs. The examples are many. Graduates of these institutions go on to advance study at many august U.S. graduate programs. The nation needs to promote the pipeline of domestic students to these programs. Our MSIs are an important and needed source. To address this charge, the National Academies appointed a committee to do the following:

1. Summarize previous National Academies’ reports on MSIs, including capacity development and engagement in U.S. R&D;
2. Assess the activities and investments necessary to, where possible, elevate additional MSIs to R1 status and increase their participation in defense-related R&D and industries; and
3. Identify goals, incentives, and metrics to measure MSI capacity to address the DOD’s needs in engineering, research, and development.

The committee’s full statement of task can be found in Box 1-1, and the biographical sketches of the committee members in Appendix B.

In 2022, the DOD also released an Equity Action Plan that operationalizes President Biden’s Executive Order 13985, Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government. Included in the plan was a commitment to establish a department-wide approach to “invest in under-served communities and expand access to the DOD programs and opportunities by increasing investments in minority-serving institutions (MSIs) and investments in K-12 and K-20 programs” (U.S. Department of Defense, 2022). These investments include refining outreach and partnerships; facilitating more MSI-centered events; and increasing MSI access to internships, grants, scholarships, and R&D opportunities. Through a targeted approach that ensures that all U.S. academic institutions and the communities they serve are engaged in R&D opportunities, the DOD (and the federal government as a whole) will be able to diversify and expand the nation’s research performer base and propel its dominance into the future.

Many strategies outlined in the DOD’s Equity Action Plan align with the National Academies’ 2022 report and recommendations. However, proper frameworks and implementation of the full scope of the various recommendations have not yet been executed, leaving a large portion of the U.S. R&D enterprise underutilized. The current study provides

recommendations of strategies that the DOD, Congress, and other relevant communities can implement to increase the engagement of MSIs in R&D.

CHANGING DEMOGRAPHICS AND MSIs

Engaging the full breadth of talent in the United States is an important component of growing and sustaining dominance in R&D and supporting national security into the future. By 2030, one-fifth of Americans will be above age 65 and at or nearing retirement from the workforce. Looking further out, the United States will see huge shifts in the diversity and composition of its population in the next 50 years. While projections indicate overall, albeit slowing, growth in the total U.S. population, the demographic composition is anticipated to be vastly different in succeeding generations. Estimates of race and ethnic demographic changes between 2016 and 2030 show a decrease in the non-Hispanic white population and an increase in terms of both number and share of all other demographic groups (U.S. Census, 2018). These population shifts signal a citizenry and workforce that will be increasingly diverse and require targeted support to ensure the country’s population has the resources to engage meaningfully in the needs of the nation.

In order to capitalize on changing demographics, investment in DOD research at MSIs provides a unique opportunity to focus efforts on engaging the changing U.S. population. Consider the following:

• HBCUs enroll 9 percent of all Black/African American students pursuing degrees in higher education (NCES, 2022). While small in comparison to the number of Black/African American students across all academic institutions, HBCUs have an oversized impact on Black/African American students pursing degrees in fields relevant to the DOD’s R&D. In fact, 25 percent of Black/African American students who are awarded degrees in STEM received those degrees at an HBCU (White House, 2021).
• In the 2015-2016 academic year, 11.7 percent of all American Indian/Alaska Native students attended a TCU. While overall enrollment of American Indian and Alaska Native students has decreased across higher education, there is significant growth in the number of Indigenous students attending TCUs (Marroquín, 2019).

• HSIs enroll 63 percent of all Hispanic/Latinx students. The populations at these institutions are expected to grow, as is the total number of institutions that can be classified as an HSI based on the percent threshold of Hispanic/Latinx students (Excelencia in Education, 2024).
• The subgroups of High Hispanic Enrollment (HHE) and High American Indian and Alaska Native Enrolling (HAIANE) institutions provide a significant opportunity to focus support for increased impact.

These data reflect the overall enrollment of underrepresented communities in higher education. Furthermore, the ability of MSIs not only to educate underrepresented individuals but also to nurture high achievement throughout learners’ lifetimes solidifies the critical role these institutions play in the U.S. higher education landscape and the DOD’s mission and priorities. Between 2010 and 2020, doctoral recipients who identify as a racial minority such as Black/African American, Hispanic/Latinx, or Alaska Native or Native American disproportionately received their baccalaureate degrees from Minority Institutions/MSIs (Einaudi et al., 2022). HBCUs accounted for 25.7 percent of Black individuals who received their doctorate; HHEs produced 42.4 percent of Hispanic and Latinx students who received their doctorate; and TCUs/HAIANEs and HHEs produced 26 percent of all American Indian and Alaska Native doctoral recipients. The aforementioned institutions disproportionately educate underrepresented and underutilized communities and provide an essential leveraging point for increasing the engagement of said communities. The impacts of the instruction and environment at MSIs have a multiplying effect on the outcomes of underrepresented communities. This provides an opportunity for the DOD and other federal agencies seeking to increase investments and participation of the communities they serve to target their efforts to support growth in MSI capacity. MSIs are well positioned to educate and conduct research that increases the skill sets learned by their students and to provide federal agencies with a way to meaningfully engage with a future workforce. While programs targeting increased engagement of MSIs have been in existence, little momentum has been demonstrated to date that exhibits how prior investments have achieved more engagement of under-resourced and underutilized MSIs. This report seeks to identify novel strategies that both leverage existing infrastructure and programs for institutions of higher education and propose new programs and policies to effectively increase engagement.

COMMITTEE APPROACH

To address its statement of task, the committee held nine committee meetings and five open sessions. The open sessions were used to investigate existing MSI engagement strategies across the DOD branches and R&D programs, as well as learn about opportunities for collaboration and support with University Affiliated Research Centers and Federally Funded Research and Development Centers. The committee also invited speakers from other federal agency programs involved in data collection or addressing the various components of capacity development at emerging research institutions to understand their frameworks and funding structures and elucidate best practices to identify mechanisms that could be adapted for the DOD. The committee also received a briefing from the American Council on Education on the forthcoming changes to the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education to better understand the metrics that will inform the revision.

The committee conducted three site visits to receive candid feedback and develop an assessment of institutional capacity and opportunities. The site visits represented three targeted institution types (HBCU, TCU, and HSI) and included Fayetteville State University, Diné College, and California State University at Bakersfield that are engaged in research but are below R2 (High Research Activity) on the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education scale to identify potential interventions for increasing capacity at these diverse and often under-supported institutions. Recognizing that each school is unique, and these schools do not capture all HBCUs, TCUs, or HSIs, such as MSIs with engineering departments, the visits were invaluable to expose committee members to the on-the-ground experiences of leaders, administrators, faculty, and students, as well as to tour facilities and other infrastructure.

The committee also developed and distributed a Request for Information (RFI) publicly available through the National Academies’ website and other channels. The goals of the RFI were to collect information on how MSIs broadly assess their current research, resources, and capabilities; determine their research aspirations in defense-related research and industries critical to U.S. national security; and learn how they currently engage with the DOD.

A commissioned paper by Ruishan Zhang drew on National Science Foundation data to characterize current research capacity and explore potential investment avenues.³

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³ The paper is available at https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/27838.

The committee drew on the proceedings of a series of Town Halls, sponsored by the DOD and convened by the National Academies through a separate committee in 2023 (NASEM, 2024). The Town Halls provided a rich array of perspectives from the government, institutions, nonprofits, and other organizations.

Finally, as requested in the statement of task, the committee reviewed previous National Academies’ studies (listed in Chapter 2) and relevant literature. Points drawn from the site visits, RFI, commissioned paper, Town Halls, and other inputs are highlighted throughout this report and contributed to the committee’s final recommendations and suggestions.

DEFINITIONS AND SCOPE

Research Capacity

The previous National Academies’ report (NASEM, 2022, p. 4) provided a framework to consider what research capacity entails. Because it is so critical to the current study, it is useful to refer to it here. That committee identified three mutually enforcing areas:

1. A strong institutional grant and contract base, including appropriate physical research facilities and skilled research support to enable competitiveness.
2. Research faculty support, including an articulated vision and support for a research climate and culture by institutional leadership, faculty teaching workloads that allow time for research pursuits, and department/college-based research and administrative staff.
3. Ancillary services, including effective human resources processes, legal/contracting assistance, and robust government relations teams.

Minority-Serving Institutions

Minority Institutions (MI) are institutions of higher education whose enrollment of a single minority or a combination of minorities exceeds 50 percent of the total enrollment as defined by §365(3) of the Higher Education Act. MSIs are institutions of higher education enrolling populations with significant percentages of undergraduate minority students, or that serve certain populations of minority students, and may have been historically founded by mission to serve the population enrolled (Box 1-2).

Institutions that serve primarily minority populations are identified in law, policy discourse, and even in National Academies’ reports specifically as “minority institutions” or “minority-serving institutions.” After recognition of the different ways in which institutions were formed and currently operate, the committee drew from its statement of task to consistently use the term “minority-serving institution” or MSI throughout this report, unless quoting from a source that used “minority institution” or MI. Further discussion can be found in Chapter 2.⁴

Another decision point centered on MSI research expenditures. Several MSIs are potentially eligible to be elevated to R1 (very high research activity) on the reformed Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education proposed for 2025 due to increased expenditures and increased diversity of conferred research doctoral degrees being offered. The

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⁴ As defined in U.S. federal statute (20 U.S. Code § 1067k), a “minority institution” (MI) is a specific term referring to an institution of higher education whose enrollment of a single minority or a combination of minorities exceeds 50 percent of the total enrollment. This contrasts with the term “minority-serving institution,” which federal statute (20 U.S. Code § 1067q) defines as “institutions that range in enrollment from 10-40 percent of a single minority group.”

committee looked at recent expenditures reported in the Higher Education Research and Development (HERD) Survey conducted by the National Science Foundation and divided institutions by percentile. As has been reported in previous studies, the top one-third of institutions account for the majority of higher education R&D expenditures. By and large, most MSIs fall below the 66th percentile of institutions that report their expenditures on the HERD Survey (Zhang, 2024). For this reason, the committee chose to focus its recommendations and findings on MSIs that report less than $200 million in federal expenditures annually in the HERD Survey. This delineation was selected to support non-R1 MSIs as well as to ensure that any interventions provided by Congress, the DOD, or other federal agencies support MSIs that are newly minted R1 institutions and that require support to sustain their classification.

Defense-Related Research

To address its statement of task, the committee sought to define defense-related research that could be broadly applied and provide an opportunity to contextualize better the capabilities of MSIs. The committee chose to use STEM throughout the study in its assessment and recommendations. The acronym “STEM” used in this report includes disciplines that are traditionally described when referring to “STEM,” namely, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Additionally, given the DOD’s interest in biomedical research, the committee also chose to incorporate medicine when the report references “STEM” disciplines. While most defense-related research is funded and conducted through the DOD and its related industries, defense-related research permeates the breadth and scope of science, engineering, and medicine, and funding and support for defense-related research and infrastructure exists across the federal government. Agencies such as the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Department of Energy, and others all include programs and funding supporting defense-related research. Thus, the committee developed the following definition:

Organization of This Report

Following Chapter 1, the rest of the report is organized as follows:

• Chapter 2 describes the history of government engagement with HBCUs, TCUs, HSIs, and the communities they serve and provides an overview of common themes from previous National Academies’ reports.
• Chapter 3 provides an assessment of the current capabilities of MSIs, the impact of those institutions on STEM education and research, and the current federal funding landscape for MSIs participating in R&D.
• Chapter 4 explores the existing DOD outreach and engagement strategies used across its research programs to engage academic institutions, the current infrastructure for academic research engagement, and programs administered by other federal agencies to support R&D capacity and engagement. It proposes novel opportunities for increasing MSI involvement.
• Chapter 5 outlines assessment strategies for MSI leadership, processes for decision-making and for calculating facilities and administration costs, and potential data collection mechanisms for assessment and identification of MSI capabilities.
• Chapter 6 includes an overview of the committee’s recommendations and specifies the roles of MSIs, the defense-related industry, Congress, the DOD, and other federal agencies in the elevation of MSI participation in defense-related R&D.

REFERENCES

Marroquín, C. 2019. Tribal colleges and universities: A testament of resilience and nation-building (CMSI Research Brief ). Center for Minority Serving Institutions at the University of Pennsylvania. https://cmsi.gse.rutgers.edu/sites/default/files/TCUs.pdf.

Mazarr, M.J., et al. 2018. Understanding the emerging era of international competition: Theoretical and historical perspectives. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation. https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR2726.html.

NASEM (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine). 2022. Defense research capacity at historically black colleges and universities and other minority institutions: Transitioning from good intentions to measurable outcomes. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/26399.

NASEM. 2024. Building defense research capacity at historically black colleges and universities, tribal colleges and universities, and minority-serving institutions: Proceedings of three town halls. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/27511.

NCES (National Center for Education Statistics). 2022. Fast facts: Historically black colleges and universities. Institute for Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=667.

NRC (National Research Council). 1994. Dual-Use Technologies and Export Control in the Post-Cold War Era. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/2270. U.S. Census. 2018. Demographic turning points for the United States: Population projections for 2020 to 2060. https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2020/demo/p25-1144.pdf.

U.S. Department of Defense. 2022. Department of Defense equity action plan. https://media.defense.gov/2022/Apr/13/2002976515/-1/-1/0/DOD-EQUITY-ACTION-PLAN.PDF.

White House. 2021, September 3. Executive Order on White House Initiative on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity through Historically Black Colleges and Universities. https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/09/03/executive-order-on-white-house-initiative-on-advancing-educational-equity-excellence-and-economic-opportunity-through-historically-black-colleges-and-universities/.

White House Office of Science & Technology Policy. 2022. Biden-Harris Administration announces historic actions to advance national vision for STEMM equity and excellence. https://www.whitehouse.gov/ostp/news-updates/2022/12/12/biden-harris-administration-announces-historic-actions-to-advance-national-vision-for-stemm-equity-and-excellence/.

Zhang, R. 2024. Building up research capacity at minority institutions: Report for the National Academy of Sciences. Commissioned paper for the National Academies’ Committee on the Development of a Plan to Promote Defense Research at Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Tribal Colleges and Universities, and Hispanic-Serving Institutions. https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/27838.

Zwetsloot, R., et al. 2021. Data brief: China is fast outpacing U.S. STEM PhD growth. Center for Security and Emerging Technology. https://cset.georgetown.edu/publication/china-is-fast-outpacing-u-s-stem-phd-growth/.