Howard Hughes Medical Institute Program

Program Objectives

a student working on a laptop

The 2010 Howard Hughes Medical Institute Pre-College and Undergraduate Science Education Program Grant at The University of Alabama sponsors four programs over four years that will:

  • increase diversity and training of students attracted to careers in science;
  • train current and future teachers in innovative pedagogy;
  • and enhance the success of students studying other sciences

UA-HHMI Undergraduate Researcher Program

Freshman and sophomore students at Stillman College, Shelton State Community College, and The University of Alabama have the opportunity to participate in the Undergraduate Researcher Program.

Future Faculty Program

The Future Faculty Program trains Graduate Teaching Assistants in techniques for active and collaborative learning in large enrollment lectures of freshman Biology. The Future Faculty graduate student will work along side faculty skilled in these techniques, as well as faculty still learning how to implement them.

Honors Chemistry Laboratory Redesign

In a major transformation of the freshman Honors Chemistry I Laboratory, more discovery-problem-based laboratories will be introduced to correspond to the active learning that occurs in the lecture portion of the course.

Alabama Science in Motion Tool Kits

UA faculty in biology, chemistry, and nutrition will partner with high school teachers in Alabama Science in Motion to develop new experiments and tool-kit kits to help increase students’ understanding of concepts about cell structure, energy exchange, membrane transport, and chemicals of life using nutrition and health as a vehicle of presentation.

Applying concepts to health issues students’ experience in their daily lives will make learning more relevant. Improvements in students’ interests and performance in science are expected outcomes.