Scientists Delve Into Public Education

Huntsville, Ala.

A visit to the campus of a newly built research center here offers a glimpse of Alabama’s economic heritage and, quite possibly, its economic future.

A cotton field, once the lifeblood of the South, borders the headquarters of the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, occasionally sending wisps of white blowing across its parking lot. Inside the four-story, $70 million office complex, scientists conduct genetics and genomics research with the potential to transform medicine, as well as agriculture and energy.

Since the HudsonAlpha Institute opened last April, its leaders have sought to channel the organization’s financial and intellectual acumen toward another goal: improving science education. The institute is one of many scientific organizations around the country, include both philanthropies and for-profit companies, that have tried to raise the quality of state and district science instruction through direct involvement in teacher training, curriculum, and the sharing of their scientific personnel...