► The University of Arkansas - Fort Smith recently received a $1.8 million grant from the Arkansas Department of Human Services Division of Child Care & Early Childhood Education that will allow the university’s early childhood education (ECE) program to increase its free professional development offerings to Arkansas early childhood educators.

► At the U of A, a $194.7 million grant from the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation will establish the University of Arkansas Institute for Integrative & Innovative Research (I3R), transforming the research, innovation and economic development culture of the university. The grant will work to increase research across five clusters of innovation, including: data science, food and technology, materials science and engineering, bioscience and bioengineering research in metabolism and integrative systems neuroscience.

► At UA Little Rock, exciting medical research will continue to happen thanks to a $443,854 grant from the National Institutes of Health, that will enable Dr. Mary Yang, professor of information science and director of the Midsouth Bioinformatics Center at UA Little Rock, to develop methods to identify key cell networks in complex diseases.

► The University of Arkansas at Monticello School of Nursing secured a $150,000 grant from the Blue & You Foundation, which will enable the campus to enhance the nursing simulation laboratory that prepares students to enter the workforce.