Staff Report
Published June 5, 2012

The College of Charleston has received a $1.4 million award from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

The award is part of a national $50 million initiative to help schools to work together to create more engaging science classes, bring real-world research experiences to students and increase the diversity of students who study science.

This is the second grant the college has received from the HHMI competition, which is held every four years.

The college’s 2012 program centers on undergraduate science education with mentored undergraduate research being a central component. In addition, new senior capstone courses will be developed in emerging interdisciplinary areas along with laboratory experiences in freshmen and biology labs.

The college’s award was presented to Pamela Riggs-Gelasco, program director and chair of the College of Charleston Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. Beth Meyer-Bernstein in biology and Mark Hurd in psychology were also part of the proposal team and helped lead efforts in the 2008 award from HHMI.

“This new award will allow us to expand novel efforts to teach science that have already proved successful, as well engage more students in meaningful research experiences,” said Mike Auerbach, dean of the School of Science and Mathematics. “It is also exciting to see the establishment of a new public lecture series that will help make scientific advances accessible to the local community.”

More than 200 schools were invited to apply for the HHMI awards last year. The College of Charleston is one of 47 colleges and universities to receive the grant money.