In September 2023, students at HBCUs participated in a hackathon at the National HBCU Week Conference, where they used NASA’s technologies to create solutions to problems that affect Black communities. The winning team, Team Airtek, proposed a nano-sensor array for medical diagnoses that would give students on HBCU campuses a non-invasive, non-intensive way to test themselves for precursors for diseases and illnesses like diabetes and COVID.
The hackathon they participated in is a modified version of the full NASA Minority University Research and Education Project Innovation and Tech Transfer Idea Competition (MITTIC) that takes place each fall and spring semester at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
No matter what you’re studying, you can join the MITTIC competition and come up with new and innovative tech to help your community and the world.
MITTIC could be the beginning of your career pathway: Teams can go on exclusive NASA tours and network with industry experts. Show off your entrepreneurial skills and your team could earn money—and bragging rights.
Don’t wait too long to apply or to share with someone who should apply! The deadline for proposals is Oct. 16, 2023. Apply here: https://microgravityuniversity.jsc.nasa.gov/nasamittic.
Students at Whittier School at the Hampton Institute (now Hampton University) learn to knit for the war effort. August 5, 1918.
Record Group 165: Records of the War Department General and Special Staffs
Series: American Unofficial Collection of World War I Photographs
File Unit: Colleges and Universities - Hampton Institute
Image description: Four girls and a young woman sit on a porch. Each has a ball of yarn on her lap and is knitting. They are all wearing light-colored dresses. The teaching institute and associated school were created to serve the Black community; all of the people in the photo are Black.
Transcription: WAR ACTIVITIES OF HAMPTON INSTITUTE, HAMPTON, VA. / Whittier School girls learning to knit for war sufferers.