The Howard Hughes Medical Institute has awarded $60 million in grants to colleges—primarily liberal arts colleges—to support efforts to increase K-12 students’ interest in the biological sciences.
The institute, a nonprofit research organization headquartered in Chevy Chase, Md., is a major funder of school science programs. It has awarded more than $1.2 billion in grants in that area over the years, officials with the institute said in announcing the latest grants on April 21.
While major postsecondary research institutions have traditionally been active in supporting and working with K-12 teacher-training and student programs in science, the new round of grants is devoted specifically toward spawning such efforts on smaller, liberal arts campuses, said Cindy Fox Aisen, an official in the institute’s communications office. The grants will go to 48 schools in the United States and Puerto Rico.
