Clemson University receives $1 million grant for science education
June 13, 2010
CLEMSON, SC – June 13, 2010 – The Howard Hughes Medical Institute will award Clemson University a $1 million grant for SC Life, which supports science education and research projects for middle and high school students and high school teachers in South Carolina.
“SC LIFE offers an array of programs and activities to point students toward college and then on to careers in science,” said Barbara Speziale, director of SC LIFE and professor of biology at Clemson. “In a state where most of the adults do not have a college education, there is a critical need for creative and innovative strategies to reach students and teachers.”
SC LIFE brings 200 students to campus each year for two days of intensive experience in biological science. Students take the Biology Merit Exam, visit state-of-the-art research labs where they take lessons in molecular biology and learn about many science disciplines. Some may experience a university campus and meeting professors for the first time. Since 1998, 1,746 middle and high school students have participated in the program and more than 330 have gone on to college. Speziale continues to encourage more students to pursue higher education. (Read more about the programs.)
SC LIFE will continue a popular program that brings high school teachers to the university to take graduate-level science classes taught by active researchers.
“Teachers can get education courses pretty easily once they’re teaching, but it’s been hard for them to get biology and other science courses,” Speziale said.
Since the program started in 1998, 816 teachers and 70 teachers-in-training have participated in 103 graduate courses in such areas as forensic science, histology and the natural history of South Carolina.
The Clemson award is one of 50 grants to research universities announced by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute for a total of $70 million. Clemson was one of 197 leading research universities invited to submit proposals. The institute, the nation’s largest private funder of science education, has spent $1.6 billion since 1985 on reforms in science education from elementary through graduate school.
The Howard Hughes Medical Institute began funding SC LIFE in 1998. This award will bring the total received from the insitute for SC LIFE and other programs to $6.4 million.
For her dedication to science education and inspiring young people to careers in science, Speziale received the 2010 South Carolina Governor’s Excellence Award for Scientific Awareness. Her other projects include the Clemson FIRST program for students who are the first in their families to attend college. To learn more about SC LIFE programs, visit the SC LIFE website.
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
The Howard Hughes Medical Institute plays a powerful role in advancing scientific research and education in the United States. Its scientists, located across the country and around the world, have made important discoveries that advance both human health and our fundamental understanding of biology. The Institute also aims to transform science education into a creative, interdisciplinary endeavor that reflects the excitement of real research.
