Rice receives $1.6 million to support science education

CONTACT: Mike Cinelli

PHONE: (713)
831-4793

E-MAIL: unrau@rice.edu

RICE RECEIVES $1.6 MILLION TO SUPPORT SCIENCE
EDUCATION

Rice University has received $1.6
million from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) for the support of
undergraduate science education opportunities and continued support of community
outreach programs.

The four-year grant is part of HHMI’s Undergraduate Biological
Sciences Education Program. It is the third such grant Rice has received from
HHMI. The funds support a network of programs that provide educational
opportunities in the area of science for undergraduates as well as K-12 teachers
and students. Earlier grants supported undergraduate curriculum development at
Rice and the establishment of outreach programs. The majority of the new dollars
will go to continued support and expansion of outreach programs.

The grant will be administered by Fred Rudolph, professor and
chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, and executive director
of Rice’s Institute of Biosciences and Bioengineering. Rudolph also directed the
previous HHMI grants.

“In terms of outreach, these grants have allowed us to develop
programs that meet the needs of the community and the state and make an impact
on a large number of students and teachers,” Rudolph says.

Says Malcolm Gillis, president of Rice University, “This is yet
another example of an external vote of confidence in what Rice has and will be
doing to improve science education for undergraduates as well as grade school
and high school students. Professor Fred Rudolph is an acknowledged leader in
this field, so the program is in excellent hands.”

Through the HHMI grants, Rice has established a wide range of
programs, providing opportunities for curriculum reform, professional
development of teachers, and learning experiences for K-12 students. They
include:

Galveston Bay Program for Teachers

Middle School Integrated Science Initiative

High School Biology-Math Integration Program

Galveston Bay Program for Girls

Expanding Your Horizons

funding for curriculum development and implementation at the Rice School/La
Escuela Rice

funding for summer programs with Milby High School

South Texas Science Academy Summer Internship Program

DocPrep

On campus, grant funds will go to a freshman seminar program
for science majors, curriculum and lab development, and for support of other
advising and counseling activities for undergraduates in biological
sciences.

Proposals were invited from 205 research and doctoral
universities. The 191 proposals received were reviewed by a panel of
distinguished scientists and educators and approved by HHMI trustees. This is
the fourth round of grants for research and doctoral universities awarded since
the program began in 1988.

This year HHMI is awarding $91.1 million in four-year grants to
help 58 research and doctoral universities strengthen their undergraduate
education programs in the biological sciences. The grants, which range between
$1.2 million and $2.2 million, bring to more than $425 million the amount
awarded since 1988 through HHMI’s undergraduate grants program.

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute is a medical research
organization whose principal purpose is the conduct of biomedical
research.

Rice University is a leading American research university,
small, private, and highly selective, distinguished by its superior teaching,
commitment to undergraduate education, outstanding graduate and professional
programs, residential college system, collaborative and interdisciplinary
culture, and global perspective.

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