CHEVY CHASE, Maryland” The University of Michigan has been awarded a $1.5 million grant by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) to further develop innovative methods of teaching basic biology to undergraduates. Cell biologist and Life Sciences Institute researcher Daniel J. Klionsky will lead the project with support from Sandra Gregerman, director of the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) and Cinda-Sue Davis, director of Women in Science and Engineering (WISE.)

The grant is among $86.4 million given out by HHMI this week to strengthen and enrich undergraduate science teaching at research universities.

“We believe it is vital to bring fresh perspectives to the teaching of established scientific disciplines and to develop novel courses in emerging areas, such as computational biology, genomics, and bio-imaging,” said Thomas R. Cech, HHMI president.” Our grantee universities are providing hands-on research experiences to help prepare undergraduates, including women and minorities underrepresented in the sciences, for graduate studies and for careers in biomedical research, medicine, and science education. We also hope these grants will help the universities increase the science literacy of their students, including non-science majors.”

Klionsky has been widely recognized for his” active learning” approach to introductory biology at U-M. It dispenses with the traditional textbook and lectures, replacing them with terse lecture notes that are to be read before each class, daily quizzes on that material, animated group discussions, and plenty of two-way interaction with the professor.

An accomplished researcher in his own right, Klionsky is critical of the traditional lecture format by which he learned science.” You can’t just transfer knowledge from one person to another,” Klionsky says.” Knowledge is constructed, and learned, by each individual in his or her own way.”

Science also requires problem solving and collaboration with other people, he adds. Sitting in a lecture, silently competing for grades with your colleagues, is not how real science is done.

Klionsky is the Abram Sager Collegiate Professor of Life Sciences, a professor of Molecular, Cellular & Developmental Biology and of Biological Chemistry. His research is primarily concerned with autophagy in yeast cells, a process in which the cell starts to cannibalize parts of itself when faced with difficult environmental conditions. This work has relevance to cancer, neurodegenerative conditions like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s and cardiomyopathy, an enlargement of the heart. He has published more than 100 research articles in addition to eight papers on teaching.

In 2003, Klionsky received a $305,000, four-year grant from the National Science Foundation in recognition of his contributions to both teaching and research. The NSF grant provides funding to create a pilot course for non-honors introductory biology students, and to measure the outcomes of the new teaching style. Klionsky was also named this year as a National Academies Education Mentor in the Life Sciences by the National Academies of Science.

The HHMI teaching grants range from $1.5 million to $2.2 million and will support programs at 50 universities in 28 states and the District of Columbia. Some of the newly funded programs will develop courses that reflect the interdisciplinary nature of scientific research, melding computational and physical sciences and engineering with the life sciences. Others aim to hone the teaching and mentoring skills of present and future scientists. Key goals of the grants are to attract and retain minorities who have been traditionally underrepresented in the sciences, reach out to high schools and middle schools to engage and prepare future science majors, and build science literacy” preparing non-science majors to understand the complex scientific issues that affect their lives.

“Summer bridge programs” a component of several of the new grants” are particularly important in helping minority students make a successful transition to the world of the research university,” said Peter J. Bruns, HHMI vice president for grants and special programs.” Individualized mentoring and early research experiences with working scientists also are vital components of a university education that prepares undergraduates for graduate school and careers in science. The universities want to offer their students these opportunities, and HHMI is pleased to help them do so.”

A nonprofit medical research organization, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute was established in 1953 by the aviator-industrialist. The Institute, headquartered in Chevy Chase, Maryland, is one of the largest philanthropies in the world, with an endowment of $14.8 billion at the close of its 2005 fiscal year. HHMI spent $483 million in support of biomedical research and $80 million for support of a variety of science education and other grants programs in fiscal 2005. The Institute prizes intellectual daring and seeks to preserve the autonomy of its scientists as they pursue their research.

Literature, Science, and the Arts (LSA)Howard Hughes Medical InstituteDaniel J. Klionsky LabArticle: Introductory Biology” without the massive textbook