The Howard Hughes Medical Institute has awarded 20 four-year grants of $1 million to academic researchers for finding innovative ways to bring the culture of science to undergraduates. Unlike many science education grants, the 'HHMI Professors' program is intended to target both beginning science students and science phobics.
"People aren't learning how science is done or how scientists think, and that is important no matter what career they end up in," said Graham Hatfull, Eberly Family Professor of Biotechnology at the University of Pittsburgh and one of the 20 new Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Professors.
HHMI, the largest funding source for US biomedical science after the federal government, appointed a panel of researchers and educators to select award recipients from 150 candidates recommended by 85 research-oriented universities. Awardees were chosen based on their creativity in finding new teaching tools and opportunities to expose students to the reality of...