Morgan State University received a $28.5 million grant from the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center for research, the school announced last week. The five-year grant is the largest the Baltimore HBCU has ever received.

As part of the award, Morgan professors and graduate students will work with the Universities Space Research Association (USRA) to tackle some of science’s most pressing and prominent issues, such as climate change, the chemistry of the earth’s atmosphere and the ocean, and the effect of the carbon cycle on the environment.

"This grant represents a significant recognition of the quality of Morgan's academic programs and research in STEM [science, technology, engineering and mathematics]," the chairman of Morgan's Board of Regents, Dallas R. Evans, said in the release.

John Hopkins University and the I.M. Systems Group join Morgan as part of the Goddard Earth Sciences Technology and Research studies team. One of the main objectives of the GESTAR team is to “increase the involvement of minority and women scientists in earth science research.”

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