PENTAGON GRANT AIDS SCIENCE DEPARTMENT.

Byline: David R. Baker Daily News Staff Writer

A Pentagon program designed to beef up science departments at largely African-American or minority colleges has awarded California State University, Northridge, almost $400,000, officials said Monday.

The money will buy equipment that the biology and chemistry departments otherwise could not afford, said Jennifer Matos, an assistant professor of biology who applied for the grant.

``Not only is this going to enhance the research of a number of people in biology and chemistry, we can be much more state-of-the-art in training our students,'' she said.

Defense officials use the program to improve the training of young minority scientists in fields considered important to national defense, said Mark Lipschutz, the school's director of research.

``They view it as assuring that the nation's supply of scientists represents the diversity of the country,'' Lipschutz said.

Although not among the likes of such African-American educational institutions as Spelman College or Tuskegee University, CSUN qualified for the program because Latinos make up more than 25 percent of the student body, Lipschutz said.

This year, 42 schools received a total of $8 million through the program.

Among the items CSUN expects to buy are five different types of microscopes, costing $222,449, and a $19,938 scanning spectrophotometer, which analyzes the wavelengths of light different substances absorb.

The program also awarded grants to the University of California, Los Angeles, and the University of California, Riverside. The amounts were not immediately available.