Troy, N.Y. — Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has received $1.2 million from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute to improve undergraduate science education through the development of new biotechnology-related courses and student and faculty exchanges with other universities. A total of $80 million was given to 44 research universities across the country.

“We’re very pleased that HHMI is once again supporting science programs at Rensselaer. Our new program in biotechnology is truly exciting and an opportunity to develop new interdisciplinary educational experiences for our students,” said Joseph Flaherty, dean of science.

“Biology is progressing so rapidly and interfacing with so many other disciplines that undergraduate teaching runs the risk of substituting quantity for quality,” said HHMI President Thomas R. Cech, a Nobel Prize-winning biochemist. “Through these grants, the Institute is providing resources to help universities bring their undergraduate science teaching up to the level of their research programs.”

Funds from the HHMI grant will support development of a new biotechnology-oriented track in the biochemistry/biophysics program that will focus on biocatalysis and metabolic engineering, and creation of a new major in tissue engineering. These programs will cross boundaries between departments and will involve biology, chemistry, biomedical engineering, chemical engineering, and other disciplines. The biochemistry/biophysics degree program was established in 1989 with a previous award from HHMI, and the bioinformatics program was initiated with the help of a 1998 HHMI grant.

In addition, new undergraduate courses in biology will be developed to introduce engineers, mathematicians, and computer scientists to modern concepts in the biological sciences. The first of these courses should be available to students by the 2003-2004 academic year, according to John Salerno, professor of biology and principal investigator of the HHMI grant at Rensselaer.

The HHMI grant also will support an exchange program, already in its pilot phase, with two historically black colleges, Hampton University and Virginia Union University. Between four and six undergraduate students from HU and VUU will spend a summer at Rensselaer for each of the four summers supported by the grant. In addition, one or two faculty members from those institutions will be part of the exchange. The exchange will also include shared curricula and research.

The grant will also provide students in Rensselaer’s Undergraduate Research Program with funding for research in life sciences. Undergraduate research supported under previous awards has been a valuable component of the student experience, and has often resulted in student publications and increased competitiveness for jobs and graduate education opportunities. In addition, the HHMI grant will fund new equipment for laboratories that will be used specifically for tissue engineering and biocatalysis/metabolic engineering.

Contact: Patricia Azriel
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