Miles College Awarded Prestigious National Science Foundation Grant

By: Alabama Newscenter Staff Student Rashika George in the biology lab at Miles College. The institution has been awarded a prestigious National Science Foundation grant. (Ta’Ron Williams) A researcher at Alabama’s Miles College has received a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant, the first for the historically Black institution. “This prestigious award, managed by the Environmental and Ecological Systems Division at NSF, marks a significant milestone in the institution’s commitment to advancing scientific research and education,” the school said in a news release announcing the grant. The $300,000 research grant was awarded to Nikaela Flournoy, Ph.D., an assistant professor of biology who joined the staff at Miles College in 2021. Flourney is a native of Fairfield, the Birmingham suburb where Miles is located. The three-year grant will fund a deep-dive study into bacteria found in the West Fowl River watershed of Mobile County. The “indicator bacteria” they will be measuring, Flournoy explained, typically do not cause diseases. But when their numbers exceed standard limits, it may indicate the presence of microbial contaminants that can affect the water quality in Portersville Bay, located between Bayou la Batre and Dauphin Island – a critical area for the region’s shellfish industry. Under Flournoy’s guidance,...