Grant provides needed funds for science programs

PATRICK MCGARVEY/YH Members of the Science, Technology, and Research Scholars Program (STARS) receive funding for their activities from the HHMI grant.

In recognition of its commitment to undergraduate education and community outreach, Yale was recently awarded a competitive four-year, $1.8 million grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Undergraduate Grants Program for the third time. The program is the largest private initiative in U.S. history to enhance undergraduate science education, according to an HHMI press release.

"There's lots of money available out there for research, because everyone knows that research is glorious," Professor Robert Wyman, academic director of the grant and Director of Undergraduate Studies of molecular, cellular, and developmental biology, said. "But for [science] education, which is really the future of the world, there is very little outside support. [HHMI] is one of the few places that generally supports science education." This year, HHMI awarded a total of $91.1 million to 58 universities out of 191 applicants.

The grant will be used to fund a wide variety of projects at Yale, ranging from Perspectives on Science, a program for freshmen talented in the sciences, to DEMOS, an undergraduate organization that performs scientific demonstrations for students in local public schools. In addition, some funds will be allocated for a new freshmen chemistry-ecology lab and to provide financial support for Yalies pursuing Connecticut teaching accreditation.

The Yale-New Haven Teachers' Institute (YNHTI), which holds seminars for New Haven public school teachers led by Yale faculty members, will also benefit from the grant. In fact, YNHTI was so successful with its past HHMI funds that the DeWitt Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund awarded it a $2.5 million grant to launch a national initiative to forge working bonds between universities and public schools.

A committee headed by Wyman and Judith Hackman, associate dean of Yale College and dean of academic resources, will review the applications of groups and programs that want a share of the grant. "Our administration of the grant is one of the key selling points of our proposal [to get the grant]," Hackman said. "We have no full time director to administer it, so most of
the grant money is used to fund actual
programs."

In the past, Yale has used the HHMI grant to launch such projects as a nucleic acid laboratory and the Science, Technology, and Research Scholars Program (STARS), which encourages women and minorities to pursue a science education. "STARS offers a place for students to become part of a scientific community and family and to get support for their studies; no matter how difficult things are, they
can get through it and be successful," program director Iona Black said. "Up until this year, STARS was funded entirely by HHMI grant money."

The summer research projects of students in Perspectives on Science are subsidized by the HHMI grant. According to Professor Douglas Stone, co-organizer of Perspectives and the chair of the applied physics department, "[funded summer research internships] are a key element in the course; last year 25 of 45 students took advantage of it--the largest percentage ever." Paul Schockett, MC '02, a Perspectives student, added, "Working in a lab gives an opportunity for everyone in the program to get real experience in a lab and with lab technology." Wyman said, "Students come into big lecture classes and feel anonymous. Summer research gives students an opportunity to work one-on-one with faculty and graduate students and really learn a lot."

Student groups DEMOS and Science and Math Achiever Teams (SMArT) believe the grant is integral to their success. "Since our whole approach relies on sensory-intensive demonstrations, we are constantly in need of new materials and equipment," said DEMOS co-coordinator Jeff Chi, PC '00. "We use the HHMI funds to buy chemicals, carnivorous plants, and things like Van de Graff generators--stuff we can use to get kids excited about science."

General undergraduate science education will also benefit. "In all fields, but especially in science, there is a tension between research and education...since the faculty gets all its rewards for research, teaching sometimes gets brushed by the wayside," Wyman said. "This grant, like anything we can do to support teaching, is extremely important in redressing this balance." He added that computers and other audiovisual and technical utilities will be installed in classrooms "to make whatever time the faculty will devote to teaching as useful and as efficient as possible."

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