Administration

10/1/09

HHMI grants support a range of activities that engage students in research; create courses that convey the excitement of contemporary science; develop new, current, and future faculty members; and broaden access to science careers through outreach activities that extend to elementary, high school, and community college faculty and students. Through this competition, HHMI seeks to support the very best initiatives in undergraduate sciences education and develop innovative ways to energize and reform science education at research universities.

The complete solicitation (PDF) can be found online for review. Download Adobe Reader.

The competition is open by invitation to 197 institutions that serve undergraduates and were classified in 2005 by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching as research universities (very high and high-research activity). These institutions provide an environment in which research-active faculty and students are engaged in excellent, peer-reviewed science. Successful applicants should effectively engage research-active faculty in science education activities. UT Austin was nominated to submit to this program. View the list of other invited applicants.

Core Grants: The undergraduate science education program enables institutions to develop effective ways to enhance the success of all students, including persons form groups that are underrepresented in science. The core grant will provide funding in four components:

· Student Research

· Faculty Development

· Curriculum Development

· Outreach and transistors

HHMI expects to fund core grants up to $2.2 million over four years.

Experiment Grants: For this competition, HHMI plans to provide additional support in new component: Experiments in Undergraduate Science Education. The aim of the Experiments component is to encourage science faculty to try innovative ideas in science education. Because many of these experiments may be considered risky, the application and review of the Experiments will be separate from the core grant proposal. An Experiment is eligible for funding for up to $600,000 over four years in addition to the core grant.

Please submit the following materials electronically to limitedsub@austin.utexas.edu no later than 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, July 21:

1. Dean's or ORU Director's Letter of Nomination

2. Two to three page maximum lay abstract describing the aims of the proposed research project. Please specify which program (Core or Experiment) you plan to submit to.

3. The bio sketch of the UT PI

** The Associate Deans for Research should rank the proposals accordingly and submit them forward.