MIT has been awarded $1.8 million for undergraduate biology education from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), which awarded a total of $86.4 million to 50 universities around the country.
The grants will support undergraduate research opportunities; new faculty, courses and labs; teaching and mentoring training; and work with precollege students and teachers.
"We believe it is vital to bring fresh perspectives to the teaching of established scientific disciplines and to develop novel courses in emerging areas, such as computational biology, genomics, and bio-imaging," said Thomas R. Cech, HHMI president.
"Our grantee universities are providing hands-on research experiences to help prepare undergraduates, including women and minorities underrepresented in the sciences, for graduate studies and for careers in biomedical research, medicine and science education. We also hope these grants will help the universities increase the science literacy of their students, including nonscience majors."
HHMI grants range from $1.5 million to $2.2 million each. A panel of scientists and educators reviewed proposals from 158 institutions.
Since 1988, HHMI has awarded $700 million to 247 colleges and universities.
