Howard Hughes Medical Institute Enriches Undergrad Science Studies

This year, five graduating seniors from Atlanta's Morehouse College, one of the top historically black institutions in the United States, plan on attending graduate school in science. "That's up from zero last year, so this represents a giant step forward," says J.K. Haynes, chairman of the biology department at Morehouse. "If one college can place five minority students in graduate science programs every year, that's making a major contribution. And we see this trend continuing." Haynes believes this change has been spurred, at least in part, by the enriched science curriculum Morehouse has been able to offer its undergraduates since 1988, when it was awarded a five-year grant of $400,000 by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) in Bethesda, Md. The college used the money to add two new science faculty members, one of whom also counsels students interested in pursuing science careers, and to establish genetics and biochemistry laboratories. "We try to expose students to compelling research experiences," says Haynes. "Once they do an experiment that actually works, they get hooked--which may explain why more of them are considering careers in research." What Morehouse College has accomplished fits in with the goal of HHMI's Undergraduate Biological Sciences Education Initiative, instituted in 1987. This philanthropic program aims to recruit talented students into the sciences, especially women and minorities who are underrepresented in scientific fields. HHMI, best known for the investigatorships it offers to prominent researchers in cell biology and regulation, genetics, immunology, neuroscience, and structural biology, also sponsors scholarships for medical student research at the National Institutes of Health; medical student research training fellowships; and a Research Resources Program, which makes grants to educational organizations (The Scientist, July 24, 1989, page 17). HHMI has already doled out more than $90 million in grants for the undergraduate initiative. Over the next two years, the institute plans to award another $90 million to institutions, like Morehouse, that have formulated a broad range of programs to motivate and prepare science students, make the curriculum more exciting, enhance the efforts of undergraduate teaching faculty, and provide outreach to elementary and secondary schools. The HHMI undergraduate initiative was launched in response to the results of a 10-year study conducted by the United States Department of Education, the National Science Foundation, and the congressional Office of Technology Assessment during the period 1977-87. The study found that while 9 percent of the college freshmen surveyed planned to pursue science or engineering degrees, only 5 percent actually got their degrees in those areas of study. And, in fact, over the past decade the number of U.S. bachelor's degrees conferred in the biological sciences has declined by one-third. "Science has the highest defection rate and the lowest recruitment rate," says Joseph G. Perpich, HHMI's vice president for grants and special programs. "Where is the next generation of scientists going to come from? There's a huge--and growing--gap in the pipeline." Officials at HHMI hope that the undergraduate initiative will provide an effective way to bridge that gap. The 10-year study identified part of the problem: The science curriculum at many colleges and universities does not meet the needs of the students. Of the freshman science and engineering students who eventually switched majors, 31 percent reported having done so because they found the coursework too difficult, and 43 percent said they changed majors because they found other fields more interesting. (The remaining 26 percent said they switched because they believed job prospects were more promising in other fields.) Investment In Education The results of this and similar studies prompted HHMI officials to make a substantial investment in science undergraduate education. HHMI staffers concluded, for example, that one way to spur interest in science among gifted undergraduates is to give them exposure to real research, thus enabling them to experience firsthand the excitement of scientific discovery. Institute officials decided that the best way to implement an undergraduate funding program is to provide grants to those colleges and universities with a proven track record of producing the nation's scientists, engineers, and physicians. Using data collected between 1978 and 1986 by the Association of American Medical Colleges and federal agencies, HHMI evaluated the scientific productivity of nearly 1,500 institutions, representing virtually all four-year U.S. colleges supplying the nation's scientists. The institutions that, in the past 10 years, have had the highest proportion of graduates who have gone on to medical school or to earn Ph.D.'s in the biological sciences, chemistry, physics, or mathematics were selected to compete for awards in the Undergraduate Biological Sciences Education Initiative, which has evolved into the largest initiative for science education ever undertaken by a private philanthropy. "Rather than sift through hundreds of proposals," explains Perpich, "we felt this selection method was the most efficient and sensible way to target productive institutions." The initial phase of the program was geared toward private, liberal arts colleges and historically black institutions; based on HHMI's criteria, the field was narrowed to 99 colleges, which were asked to submit proposals. Their proposals were evaluated by an external advisory panel composed of scientists and educators, and then reviewed by an internal institute committee. Morehouse College, along with nine other historically black institutions and four women's colleges, were among the first group of 44 liberal arts colleges to receive grants totaling $30.4 million (the individual five-year grants ranged from $400,000 to $1.8 million). In 1989, HHMI awarded another $61 million in grants to 51 research and doctorate-granting universities. The institute is now reviewing proposals culled from the 99 colleges and universities that were invited to compete for another $30 million in grants in the fall of 1990. Comments that the institute has received from early grant recipients indicate that the program is adding new vitality to existing science departments. As a result of the HHMI grants, more than 2,300 students have been involved in research projects, and 50 new faculty were appointed in such fields as developmental and molecular biology, genetics, biochemistry, and neuroscience. In addition, the HHMI grants are being used to develop laboratory courses for biology, chemistry, physics, and mathematics, as well as to purchase equipment. The colleges also have reported instituting numerous outreach programs involving more than 1,100 teachers and 3,200 students from elementary and secondary schools across the country, particularly those with a significant enrollment of minority students, to ensure that a steady flow of potential scientists moves through the educational system. The program has, in fact, drawn talented students into science who would have pursued different careers otherwise, according to some university administrators. "The support from Hughes has made a major difference in the lives of women at this college and has inspired growing numbers of them to go on to graduate school in science," says Dale Rogers Marshall, academic dean of Wellesley College, a women's college located in Wellesley, Mass. "We don't have firm figures, but every indication is that it [the program] is increasing the rate of Wellesley women going on to graduate school in science. There's no way to overstate the importance of what the HHMI is doing." Wellesley College received a five-year grant of $750,000 in 1988. The money has been used to purchase laboratory equipment, to supplement the mathematics portion of a regular summer enrichment program the college offers to incoming freshmen who are considered culturally disadvantaged, and to support 43 independent research projects in which students get hands-on experience in the lab. Already, several students involved in these research projects have been the coauthors of papers or have presented posters or abstracts at professional conferences. "This has really given them a head start on a career in science," says Marshall. "The students feel this experience allowed them to test out the seriousness of their interest in science--and without it, they don't know if they would have wanted to go on." Bolstered by the apparent success of the undergraduate initiative, HHMI officials are formulating plans for the second phase of the program, which will begin when the final rounds of grants are awarded in early 1992. Though they're not quite sure what shape the second phase will take, "we're closely monitoring these current programs to get a sense of what works," says Perpich. "But our overriding impetus is that stimulating students' interest in science is one of the key challenges we face in the 1990s. We must succeed in order to ensure that the remarkable scientific advances in biomedicine of the past decade do not falter in the 21st century for lack of scientific talent." For more information about the Undergraduate Biological Sciences Education Initiative, contact the HHMI at, 6701 Rockledge Dr., Suite 900, Bethesda, Md. 20817; (301) 571-0324. Linda Marsa is a freelance writer based in Los Angeles.

Howard Hughes Medical Institute Enriches Undergrad Science Studies

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