CHEVY CHASE, Md., July 6, 2000-Fifty-three colleges and universities in 22 states and Puerto Rico will receive $50.3 million in awards for undergraduate biological sciences education. The four-year grants come from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), the nation's largest private supporter of science education from elementary school through postdoctoral studies.
Ranging from $700,000 to $1.7 million, the new undergraduate awards are designed to help institutions that grant bachelor's and master's degrees respond to a recent surge in enrollments in the biological sciences, as well as to the rapid advances in molecular biology, genetics and related life sciences. HHMI grants will enable colleges to expand and update laboratories, recruit new faculty members and provide research opportunities for undergraduates, including women and members of minority groups underrepresented in science.
The awards support education programs that reflect the increasingly interdisciplinary nature of science and research, the central role that computers will play in post-genomic biology, and the growing need for biology majors to consider careers other than research, such as teaching science at the elementary or high school level. The grants will help colleges develop educational programs in the "new biology," which includes increased use of computers, sophisticated data analysis and the integration of biology and mathematics for studying molecular and cellular processes. Many colleges also will use their awards to create interdisciplinary programs linking biology and chemistry, physics and other fields of increasing importance to biologists. For example:
"The colleges and universities receiving these grants contribute greatly to the education of both scientists and nonscientists," said HHMI President Thomas R. Cech. "These grants will help them do what they do best-providing undergraduate research opportunities and building bridges between the sciences and the humanities. I expect that these programs will serve as models for other undergraduate institutions."
HHMI invited 224 colleges and universities to submit proposals. An external panel of distinguished scientists and educators reviewed the 204 proposals received.
This is the fifth time that HHMI has awarded undergraduate science education grants to baccalaureate and master's degree-granting institutions. Four other competitions have made awards to research and doctoral-level universities to strengthen their undergraduate biological sciences programs.
The latest round of grants brings to $476 million the total awarded to 232 colleges and universities in 47 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico since HHMI's Undergraduate Biological Sciences Education Program began in 1988. The undergraduate program is the largest of HHMI's grants initiatives. Among its accomplishments:
"Biology and technology are moving forward at an incredible rate," said Joseph G. Perpich, HHMI vice president for grants and special programs. "These grants build on previous HHMI awards to help ensure that the coming generation of scientists and educators will be able to tap the enormous potential of the Web, genomic databases, and other technological advances in biological research and teaching. These grants will help bring the extraordinary excitement of today's biology to undergraduates."
Institution
City, State
Award Amount
Amherst College
Amherst, MA
$ 700,000
Barnard College
New York, NY
$ 1,100,000
Bates College
Lewiston, ME
$ 1,300,000
Beloit College
Beloit, WI
$ 1,000,000
Benedictine University
Lisle, IL
$ 900,000
Bowdoin College
Brunswick, ME
$ 800,000
California State University — Long Beach
Long Beach, CA
$ 1,600,000
Calvin College
Grand Rapids, MI
Canisius College
Buffalo, NY
Carleton College
Northfield, MN
City University of New York Hunter College
Colby College
Waterville, ME
Colgate University
Hamilton, NY
Colorado College
Colorado Springs, CO
Connecticut College
New London, CT
Denison University
Granville, OH
Dickinson College
Carlisle, PA
Earlham College
Richmond, IN
East Tennessee State University
Johnson City, TN
Florida A & M University
Tallahassee, FL
Franklin and Marshall College
Lancaster, PA
Grinnell College
Grinnell, IA
Hampshire College
Harvey Mudd College
Claremont, CA
$ 1,500,000
Haverford College
Haverford, PA
$ 1,700,000
Humboldt State University
Arcata, CA
Kalamazoo College
Kalamazoo, MI
Kenyon College
Gambier, OH
Macalester College
St. Paul, MN
Manhattan College
Bronx, NY
Morehouse College
Atlanta, GA
Mount Holyoke College
South Hadley, MA
Murray State University
Murray, KY
Nebraska Wesleyan University
Lincoln, NE
Occidental College
Los Angeles, CA
Reed College
Portland, OR
Saint Olaf College
Santa Clara University
Santa Clara, CA
Smith College
Northampton, MA
Spelman College
St. John’s College
Annapolis, MD
Swarthmore College
Swarthmore, PA
Tuskegee University
Tuskegee, AL
University of Louisiana at Monroe
Monroe, LA
University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez Campus
Mayaguez, PR
University of the South
Sewanee, TN
Ursinus College
Collegeville, PA
Vassar College
Poughkeepsie, NY
Washington and Jefferson College
Washington, PA
Wellesley College
Wellesley, MA
Wesleyan University
Middletown, CT
Williams College
Williamstown, MA
Xavier University of Louisiana
New Orleans, LA
Total
$ 50,300,000
HHMI's grants program supports science education in the United States and a select group of researchers in other countries, complementing its principal mission: the conduct of research in cell biology, computational biology, genetics, immunology, neuroscience and structural biology with its own scientific teams. About 350 investigators are employed in HHMI laboratories at 72 academic medical centers and research institutions across the United States. Altogether, the Institute has awarded more than $850 million in grants, primarily to enhance science education from preschool through postdoctoral studies. Additional information is available at http://www.hhmi.org .