The College of Liberal Arts received a three-year, $800,000 grant from the Mellon Foundation to form the Neon Pacific Initative (NPI). The NPI aims to expand, enhance, and elevate the placemaking and public-facing scholarship activities happening in UNLV’s Asian and Asian American Studies Program. In collaboration with UNLV's Asian & Asian American Studies Program in the College of Liberal Arts, the NPI created the Neon Pacific Summer Symposium Series, a roundtable for leading scholars, graduate students, undergraduates, and community members.