Profession
$50 million given for science education
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted June 14, 2004
The Howard Hughes Medical Institute has doled out $50 million in grants to support undergraduate science education. Some 42 institutions in the United States and Puerto Rico will receive four-year grants of $500,000 to $1.6 million for new courses in such fields as bioinformatics and computational biology, fellowships for postdoctoral researchers and new technology like mobile teaching laboratories to bring science to disadvantaged and minority students in remote areas.
Undergraduate biology is not well-funded nationally, said Stephen Barkanic, director of HHMI's undergraduate science education program.
Public and private funders tend to focus their support on research programs, infrastructure and graduate training, but undergraduate biology tends to be neglected," he said. "Smaller colleges and universities, in particular, often are overlooked in the intensive competition for grant dollars."
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2004/06/14/prbf0614.htm.
