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Features: July 15, 2002
Biotechnology Efforts Receive $1.2 Million
Boost
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Gary Gold |
Rensselaer has received $1.2 million from
the Howard Hughes Medical Institute to improve undergraduate
science education through the development of new biotechnology-related
courses and student and faculty exchanges with other universities.
A total of
$80 million was given to 44 research universities across
the country.
"We're very pleased that HHMI is once
again supporting science programs at Rensselaer. Our program
in biotechnology is truly exciting and an opportunity to
develop new interdisciplinary educational experiences for
our students," said Joseph Flaherty, dean of science.
Funds from the HHMI grant will support development
of a new track in the biochemistry/biophysics program that
will focus on biocatalysis and metabolic engineering. Funds
will also support a new major in tissue engineering, said
John Salerno, professor of biology and principal investigator
of the HHMI grant at Rensselaer.
In addition, new undergraduate courses in
biology will be developed to introduce engineers, mathematicians,
and computer scientists to modern concepts in the biological
sciences. The first of these courses should be available
to students by the 2003-2004 academic year.
The HHMI grant also will support an exchange
program, already in its pilot phase, with two historically
black colleges, Hampton University and Virginia Union University.
In addition, it will support Rensselaer's Undergraduate
Research Program in life sciences and fund new equipment
for tissue engineering and biocatalysis/metabolic engineering.
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