GREENVILLE, S.C.—The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) has awarded Furman University a $1.2 million grant that will allow the university to develop new interdisciplinary programs in math and science as well as create a broad range of unique research experiences.

      The HHMI announced on Tuesday that 48 of the “nation’s best undergraduate institutions” are receiving a total of $60 million in grants to “usher in a new era of science education.”  The grants ranged in size from $700,000 to $1.6 million.

      “This is Furman’s first HHMI Undergraduate Science Education (USE) award, and it comes at an extremely pivotal time in our history,” said Furman chemistry professor John Wheeler, program director of the university’s HHMI initiative.  “This grant will allow us to develop creative new science, math, and science education curricula, engage our younger students in expanded research experiences, and reach out to the Greenville community in novel ways that will impact a broad range of faculty, students and local teachers.”

      One aspect of the new program will include a partnership with the University of Florida’s HHMI Science for Life initiative.  For example, Furman will send several undergraduates each year to UF—as well as sites in France and Argentina—to engage in summer and academic year research projects with internationally recognized HHMI investigators.  Twenty Furman sophomores will also participate in a weekly teleconference seminar with their peers at UF while working as HHMI Undergraduate Fellows in research labs with Furman faculty.

      A second program at Furman will connect selected courses in math, physics, genetics and chemistry in a new interdisciplinary curriculum. Special integrated sections of advanced math and physics courses will be linked by the faculty teaching both subjects, as will genetics and bioorganic chemistry.  Students who complete this program, designated as HHMI Undergraduate Scholars, will be among those eligible to participate in a planned quantitative science concentration to be introduced next year.

      “During the last 10 years there has been an explosion in the capacity of mathematics and computer science to solve problems of great biomedical significance,” Wheeler said. “Comfort with computers and the fundamental tools of mathematics is essential to all students entering the life sciences.” 

      A third feature of Furman’s HHMI program is planned outreach to the greater Greenville educational community, particularly aimed at secondary math/science students and teachers.  For example, the HHMI initiative will provide opportunities to engage high school students currently participating in Furman’s Bridges to a Brighter Future program with summer math and science curricular and research experiences.

      Similarly, students from the South Carolina Governor’s School for Math and Science will participate in intensive summer research experiences just like Furman’s own undergraduates, and local secondary science teachers will likewise have opportunities to engage in research.  A partnership has also been established with Hughes Academy, Greenville’s magnet middle school for science and technology.

      Adds Wheeler, “Countless individuals and companies in Greenville County have provided critical support of the science programs at Furman for many years; the HHMI award provides one substantive and meaningful way we can give something back to the local educational community.”

      HHMI’s 48 grant recipients, primarily undergraduate institutions, include traditional liberal arts colleges, historically black colleges and universities, small religious schools, and larger state institutions, all united by a commitment to teaching undergraduates. 

      “The undergraduate years are vital to attracting and retaining students who will be the future of science,” said HHMI President Thomas R. Cech. “We want students to experience science as the creative, challenging, and rewarding endeavor that it is.”

      The 2008 grant recipients were selected through a stringent review process by distinguished scientists and educators that narrowed the 192 applicants down to 48 winners. HHMI invited 224 colleges with a track record of preparing undergraduate students for research careers to submit proposals.

      HHMI is the nation’s largest private supporter of science education. It has invested more than $1.2 billion in grants to reinvigorate life science education at both research universities and liberal arts colleges and to engage the nation’s leading scientists in teaching. In 2007, it launched the Science Education Alliance, which will serve as a national resource for the development and distribution of innovative science education materials and methods.

      One of the world’s largest philanthropies, HHMI is a nonprofit medical research organization that employs hundreds of leading biomedical scientists working at the forefront of their fields. HHMI has an endowment of approximately $18.7 billion. Its headquarters are located in Chevy Chase, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C.

      For more information, contact Furman’s News and Media Relations office at 864-294-3107.

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