For Immediate Release
July 9, 2002
Contacts: Ellen Ternes, 301-405-4621 or univcomm@umd.edu

UM Wins Third Howard Hughes Award

COLLEGE PARK, Md. ¿ The University of Maryland is one of 44 major research universities chosen to share $80 million in awards from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI). This marks the third time in four award periods since 1992 that Maryland has received the prestigious HHMI grant, which is aimed at strengthening life sciences undergraduate education.

Maryland¿s newest award of $1.8 million will be used over the next four years to expand the College of Life Sciences Undergraduate Research Fellowship (URF) program, undergraduate course offerings and outreach to pre-college students and biology teachers.

¿The strength of our undergraduate research was a key to winning another award,¿ said Kaci Thompson, the university¿s HHMI associate program director. ¿More than 300 undergraduates have received stipends made possible by the HHMI award to pursue research here. Many of them begin as sophomores, and even freshmen, on very high level research.¿

Students Display Research Widely;
Three Win Jack Kent Cooke Scholarships

Maryland URF students work closely with faculty mentors and even present their research results at regional, national and international conferences. In 2001, several of them won awards for best student presentations at scientific society meetings.

The three Maryland life sciences majors who won 2002 Jack Kent Cooke scholarships were HHMI scholars. Eighty per cent of the university¿s URF students have gone on to medical or graduate schools in life sciences. Almost a quarter of them are under-represented minorities.

The HHMI award also will continue to help fund the university¿s unique Jump Start program, which brings talented high school students to the College Park campus to explore recent advances in life sciences, and to start a Junior Jump Start program for middle school students in Prince Georges County. The grant also will fund teacher training for life sciences graduate students and Maryland public school teachers.

HHMI funds also will be used to develop undergraduate laboratory courses in areas such as neuroscience, genomics and structural biology.

¿The HHMI award has become the cornerstone of our efforts to create a culture of research among our undergraduates,¿ said Norma Allewell, dean of the College of Life Sciences. ¿This latest award will help us continue to respond to the needs of our increasingly talented undergraduate students and the future life scientists in our community.¿

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