Howard University keeps stacking research wins, and the latest one comes straight from the Pentagon.
Dr. Karam Jaradat, an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at Howard, recently received a $780K Howard University DoD grant from the United States Department of Defense. The one-year award funds his project titled Unraveling the Grain-Scale Mechanism of Soil Thermal Behavior — research that sits at the intersection of national security, climate resilience, and infrastructure engineering.
It’s exactly the kind of high-stakes, federally backed research that HBCUs have long been capable of producing. Now, Howard has the resources to prove it at scale.
What the Research Actually Does
At its core, Jaradat’s work is about understanding how soil responds to extreme temperature changes — specifically freezing and heating — at the microscopic, grain level. That might sound narrow, but the real-world implications are significant.
In arctic and permafrost regions, foundation soils are under constant thermal stress. As those conditions grow more unpredictable due to climate change, engineers need to understand exactly how the ground beneath buildings, roads, and military installations will behave. Currently, this area of research is largely understudied. Existing methods simply don’t capture what happens at the grain level with enough precision.
“Soils are particulate materials, and their response to extreme conditions — such as freezing — starts at the grain level,” Jaradat explained. “Acquiring these advanced research instruments will allow us to study this grain-scale response under such extremes and project it onto the large or macro-scale behavior.”
The Equipment Makes This Possible
The grant doesn’t just fund research time. Crucially, it funds the tools to do the work right.
Jaradat’s lab will acquire three major instruments: a thermomechanical triaxial system, a temperature-controlled atomic force microscope, and a micro-computed tomography scanner. Together, these tools enable real-time, high-resolution analysis of soil behavior under realistic heating and freezing conditions. That kind of data has simply not been possible to capture at this level before.
Moreover, the acquisition of this equipment positions Howard University as a national hub for advanced geomechanics and materials science research. That status matters. It attracts top graduate students, opens doors to future federal partnerships, and strengthens the university’s overall research profile — which is directly tied to its R1 Carnegie Classification standing.
Who Is Dr. Karam Jaradat?
Jaradat joined Howard in spring 2024 and immediately got to work. He founded the Geomaterials Research Laboratory at Howard, which focuses on developing resilient infrastructure solutions for extreme geoenvironmental conditions.
His background is impressive. He holds a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from Stony Brook University and previously worked with Jacobs Engineering Group and Virginia Tech. He also holds professional engineering licenses in Virginia, West Virginia, and Michigan.
In less than two years at Howard, he has already secured a six-figure federal defense grant. That trajectory says a lot — both about Jaradat and about the kind of faculty Howard is attracting as it grows its research enterprise.
The Bigger Picture for HBCU Research
This grant doesn’t exist in isolation. It arrives at a moment when HBCU research is getting more attention — and more resources — than it has in years. Howard recently became the first and only HBCU to earn R1 Carnegie Classification. It also previously landed a $90 million Air Force contract to establish the first-ever University Affiliated Research Center led by an HBCU.
Jaradat’s $780K award adds to that momentum. Furthermore, it demonstrates that Howard’s research success isn’t limited to one department or one headline. It’s happening across the institution — from defense engineering to civil infrastructure — and it’s building on itself.
For prospective graduate students in engineering, this is exactly the kind of environment worth paying attention to. Real funding, real equipment, and real research problems with national stakes. That combination is hard to find anywhere. At an HBCU, it’s historic.
