Science and Engineering Alliance Inc

Founded in 1990 as "A Unique Resource for the Nation®," SEA serves four state-supported HBCUs and two national laboratories. Lead by an executive director, the SEA Office of the Executive Director (OED) provide members with technical marketing and community relations, develops training and experiential programs for students, develops technical partnerships with the public and private sectors, and identifies opportunities for access and participation in high-profile research. SEA focuses on educating the public and private sector on the importance of increasing participation of members from all ethnic and gender groups if a strong American technical workforce is to be ensured.

 

One of the vanguard activities is utilization of the SEA Design Team (SDT) process for engaging faculty in collaborative research. As a result of the SDT process, SEA scientific research path has progressed through a variety of technical projects, and teaching and infrastructure enhancement initiative.

 

 

These initiatives include: (1) High Performance Computing and Communication (HPCC); (2) Radiation Research at the Center for Advanced Microstructures and Devices (CAMD); (3) Environmental Justice and Empowerment Initiative (4) Small Business Technology Transfer Research (STTR) Initiative; (5) Global Climate Change Research on the Gulf Coast; (6) Building Strategic Alliances between HBCUs and Small Disadvantaged Businesses (SDBs); (7) Distance Education Course in Modern Molecular Biology; (8) Infrastructure Support to Improve Institutional Research Capacity; and (9) Enhanced Training for Teachers of Math and Science in Grades 9 - 12.
Another key program for developing and training students is the SEA Summer Research Program (SSRP) established at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in 1991.  The approach in meeting the SSRP objectives is to provide opportunities for faculty and students to participate in high-quality collaborative research, and to ensure that some aspects of the experience gained at LLNL during the summer is continued at the SEA institutions during the academic year.

 

 

Since 1994, the program has gone through several iterations but still has as its objectives:
1. Enhance the research infrastructure of the SEA academic institutions, and
2. Support training of talent that will become members of the nation?s technical workforce.  SEA continues to open doors that lead to unforeseen opportunities.  As a result, these new opportunities lead to greater access, inclusion and participation of SEA faculty and students in the Federal R&D enterprise.  SEA members are: Alabama A&M University, Jackson State University, Prairie View A&M University, Southern University and A&M College, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the National Institute of Standards and Technology.