Barnard
College to Receive a $1.1 million Grant from Howard
Hughes Medical Institute Barnard is One of 53 colleges
out of 224 who submitted proposals to Receive a
Grant to Help Colleges, Universities Design a Science
Curriculum for the 21st Century
New
York, N.Y., July 6, 2000-Barnard College has received
a $1.1 million, four-year
grant from Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI),
the nation's largest private supporter of science
education from elementary school through postdoctoral
studies. Barnard is one of the 53 colleges and universities
in 22 states and Puerto Rico that will receive $50.3
million in awards for undergraduate biological sciences
education.
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.
Barnard
College Provost, Liz Boylan said: "I am very pleased
that the Howard Hughes Medical Institute has extended
funding of the core elements of our Hughes program,
including the Intercollegiate Partnership Program
with LaGuardia Community College and the student
research initiatives. This new grant will also allow
us to add some flexible faculty development opportunities
that our faculty have been seeking to enhance their
laboratory and pedagogical skills."
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.
According
to Ann Whitney Olin Professor of Biological Sciences
Paul E. Hertz, the grant will be used to support
a variety of programs. "We are very grateful to
the Howard Hughes Medical Institute for their continued
support of our undergraduate science program. The
funds from HHMI allow us to enhance science education
at every level of Barnard's curriculum. The new
grant continues support for the Intercollegiate
Partnership, our outreach program for talented community
college students; the Higher Education Opportunity
Program, which supports educationally disadvantaged
students entering Barnard; year-long Research Internships,
research in labs at other institutions, and attendance
of scientific meetings for Barnard undergraduates;
a speaker series, to bring distinguished women in
science to campus; and enhancement of courses with
state-of-the-art technological innovations. It also
supports a weekly practicum in science education
for Barnard students enrolled in the Education Program's
course in Methods in Elementary School Teaching.
These activities have an enormous impact on the
daily lives of Barnard students and faculty, and
they foster a sense of community among the College's
apprentice and working scientists."
"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. 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:
·
Approximately 40,000 students have received Institute
support for undergraduate research.
· Roughly 52,000 precollege teachers and 140,000
elementary and secondary school students have
participated in science outreach programs supported
by undergraduate grants.
· More than 6,700 new science courses have been
developed.
· Over 270 new faculty in a variety of science
disciplines have been appointed.
· Many colleges and universities have been helped
to broaden access to science for women and minorities
who are underrepresented in the sciences.
"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."
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 www.hhmi.org.
Contact:
Petra Tuomi
at (212) 854-7909
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