Texas State University Receives Over $21 Million in Federal Funding

By Preethi Mangadu
Web Content Contributor

Texas State University (TXST) was recently awarded over $21 million through H.R. 2471, the “Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022,” which was passed by Congress.

The bill was signed into law by President Biden on March 15, 2022, and provides full-year funding until Sept. 30 for projects and activities of the federal government. Many divisions of the act “provide authorizations and extensions on a wide variety of Government programs and activities,” the White House Briefing Room said.

Many Texas State programs have received this funding, including the Meadows Center for Water and the Environment, Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training (ALERRT) Center,  the Community Mental Health Surveillance Collaborative, Texas State’s STEM-for-All Partnership (RRSAP) and Research Initiative and a collaborative project to research the native and invasive species in Texas water channels.

For the Climate Change Impact on Water Initiative, the Meadows Center received a $2 million grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that was facilitated by U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett.

The Meadows Center’s project aims to evaluate how to best aid water stakeholders’ needs using the state’s climate projections. To do this, they will analyze climate factors and develop models of climate change. Furthermore, the project will help provide useful information and research that will benefit policy-makers.

From the Protecting Our Lives through Initiating COPS Expansion Act, sponsored by U.S. Rep. John Carter, the ALERRT Center at TXST received $11 million to enhance their Integrated Response Training Program.

This program aims to provide training across the country to first responders for rapid response in active shooter incidents through multi-disciplinary and scenario-based teaching. Training for how to be instructors and train their communities will also be delivered to these first responders

Using the Community Mental Health Surveillance Collaborative at TXST, Dr. Melinda Villagran received a $2 million grant, facilitated by Rep. Doggett, to improve mental health technology and training.

Villagran said the grant will allow data scientists to develop “a virtual one-stop-shop”  for government agencies, nonprofits, and clinicians to gain knowledge on mental health in Central Texas.

The RRSAP and Research Initiative, on TXST’s Round Rock campus, received a $1 million grant, facilitated by Rep. Carter, to research the STEM workforce and develop engagement and educator professionals in the Texas 31st Congressional District.

The initiative will include identifying gaps and local needs in the workforce, summer engineering camps for elementary students, STEM internship programs for secondary students, summer engineering institutes for pre-service teachers, monthly STEM nights at area schools, a speaker series for the community and STEM interactive activities and exhibitions at community events.

Dr. Weston Nowlin, a researcher and professor in the Department of Biology, was awarded $5.6 million to analyze the native and invasive species in Texan waterways through a multi-investigator and multiyear collaborative project.

The project’s goal is to examine the effect of varied river conditions combined with landscape-level factors on the populations of organisms, such as freshwater mussels, invertebrates, bacteria and fish, in river drainages throughout Texas.

For more information, visit Inside TXST.

Featured Image by Preethi Mangadu