Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) announced today (Sept. 16) it will award Cornell University $2.2 million over the next four years to continue and expand its Cornell Institute for Biology Teachers (CIBT) and undergraduate Hughes Scholars programs. This is the third time since 1988 that HHMI has recognized Cornell's innovative work in training biology teachers and involving students in research.

The two programs to date have involved more than 200 high school biology teachers and 500 Cornell undergraduates. Last year CIBT staff helped in classrooms reaching 2,200 high school students. The award is included in the total of $91.1 million in grants to 58 universities announced by the Hughes Institute today.

Cornell received its first HHMI grant in 1989 and a renewal in 1994. Including the latest award, the institute has granted more than $6 million to Cornell to improve science education. HHMI has provided more funds to Cornell from this grants program than to any other research university in the nation.

"The Institute for Biology Teachers is a program that right from the beginning got scientists involved in education -- and it shows," says Peter J. Bruns, professor of genetics and the Cornell program's director. "For teacher enhancement, we have shown that content is important, not just process. The teachers in the program have become an important resource, and the number of students is staggering."

CIBT consists of several components, all aimed at updating teacher knowledge of biology, providing laboratory exercises and connecting Cornell and its science with high school teachers. The program has resulted in a network of more than 200 high school biology teachers from New York state and in Cleveland. In addition, new groups of teachers are being established in Boston, Hartford, Conn., and near several tribal colleges in Montana. All teachers attend at least one three-week summer institute at Cornell, and most continue to interact with the program through a number of year-round activities. The Cleveland group has established its own regional organization and is conducting workshops in Ohio.

The residential summer institute provides teachers with a course in molecular biology as well as computer instruction, field trips and take-home lab exercises developed by Cornell faculty and teachers and tested in classrooms.

In addition to a stipend, course credit and housing, CIBT provides each participant with funds to buy classroom supplies.

Bruns notes, "We work very hard to make this an ongoing program. Once the teachers become part of our family, they become a truly remarkable resource for further activities."

CIBT continues its contacts with the teachers throughout the academic year. It hosts three return-to-campus events each year with lectures by Cornell faculty and sessions for sharing labs, teaching ideas and techniques. CIBT also makes possible donations of surplus equipment to participating schools. In addition, the teachers bring some of their top students to the fall campus session.

With additional funding from the New York State Center for Advanced Technology in Biotechnology, the Cornell institute also has established an equipment lending library, which makes it possible for teachers to take the program directly into their classrooms with equipment that is generally beyond the reach of schools. CIBT uses Cornell expertise to supply some of the biological materials needed for experiments, and it provides two staff people who maintain and develop the lending library, go to schools to help teachers conduct technology-heavy labs with their students for the first time and help teachers run workshops for other teachers.

The active network of interacting teachers created by CIBT has become a fertile resource for new programs, says Bruns. Teachers and Cornell faculty work together to develop new teaching materials that the teachers then test in their classrooms. Teachers disseminate the materials by teaching them to their colleagues.

The second part of the Hughes grant will support summer research by Cornell undergraduates. Each year more than 70 Cornell students spend the summer in Ithaca learning both the doing and the communicating of science by performing independent research and presenting their ideas and findings to each other.

"What makes this outstanding is not only paying for students to come here, but teaching the students how to present data, give talks to each other and criticize each other," says Bruns.

As part of this effort, the program also places financially disadvantaged students in laboratory positions, using Hughes and Cornell money to supplement federal work-study funds. There are currently 70 of these so-called bio apprentices.

Says Bruns, "Instead of slinging hash in a cafeteria, these students do valuable lab work. This program has become very important for these students and is a personal introduction to the world of research."

Yet another venture, biology ambassadors, is a marriage of the two Cornell-Hughes programs. Ten Cornell undergraduates spend a semester learning lab research and teaching techniques. They then teach in an inner-city high school for a week.

Interested in talking to a teacher in your area involved in the CIBT? Teachers in the program are in New York, Ohio, Massachusetts and Connecticut. LISTED BELOW.

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CONNECTICUT:

Hartford

-- Susan Matthews: 23 Woodland Dr., Canton CT 06019 (860) 693-3828

-- John Wilmington 283 Main St. Apt C4 Farmington CT 06032 (860) 677-0434

MASSACHUSETTS:

Boston

-- Alice Carlson: 1245 Summer St.,Bridgewater MA 02324 (508) 697-3445

-- Beth-Ann Shepley: 1867 Beacon St. #5, Brookline MA 02146 (617) 739-2652

-- Vernice Smith: 225 Powell St., Stoughton MA 02072 (617) 344-0193

NEW YORK STATE:

Capitol District (Albany Area)

-- Cathy Quackenbush: 25 Robin Hood Rd., Albany NY 12203 (518) 456-3194

-- Richard Miller: 1 Willow Brook Ln., Ballston Lake NY 12019 (518) 877-8881

-- Melissa Joslin: 1512 Maple Hill Rd., Castleton NY 12033 (518) 732-4026

-- Mary Colvard: RD 3 Box 39, Cobleskill NY 12043 (518) 234-8452

-- Patricia Nolan: 14 Oak Hill Dr., Scotia NY 12302 (518) 384-1718

-- Victoria Boulay: PO Box 191, Stuyvesant Falls NY 12174 (518) 799-2031

-- Alison Miller: 1 Willowbrook Ln., Ballston Lake NY 12019 (518) 877-8881

-- Linda Austin: RD 1 Box 93, Schaghticoke NY 12154 (518) 692-2087

-- Joyce Valenti: RD 1 Box 49A, Windham NY 12496 (518) 734-4431

Central

-- Paul Reed: 176 Pennsylvania Ave., Apalachin NY 13732 (607) 625-5226

-- Mary Kay Hickey: 73 Greenbush St., Cortland NY 13045 (607) 756-2336

-- Nancy Ridenour: 346 Warren Rd., Ithaca NY 14850 (607) 257-2654

-- Gordon Bonnet: 87 West Main St., Trumansburg NY 14886 (607) 387-5930

-- Thea Martin: 107 Ross Rd., Lansing NY 14882 (607) 533-7355

-- Howard Fisher: 525 Ridge Rd., Vestal NY 13850 (607) 748-8342

Mohawk Valley

-- Brian O'Keefe: 112 Pine Ridge Rd., Fayetteville NY 13066 (315) 637-9773

-- Kathryn Annan: 5009 Phaeton Ln., Syracuse NY 13215 (315) 673-1702

-- Kathleen Schuehler: 8697 Letchworth Ln., Baldwinsville NY 13027

(315) 635-7393

-- Douglas Pens 1050 South St. Clinton NY 13323 315-853-8623

-- Lauren French 299 Gravel Rd. Gouverneur NY 13642 315-287-3342

North Country

-- Sandra Latourelle: 409 Rugar St., Plattsburgh NY 12901 (518) 561-4833

Rochester Area

-- Glenn Simpson: 2530 Sanitarium Rd., Clifton Springs NY 14432

(315) 462-5331

-- Richard Simak: 508 West Hickory St. E., Rochester NY 14445 (716) 381-6486

-- Anthony Bertino: 51 Exchange St., Geneva NY 14456 (315) 781-0525

-- Nancy Wright: 5121 Egypt Valley Rd., Honeoye NY 14471 (716) 229-2157

-- Kay Drury: 23 Brickston Dr., Pittsford NY 14534 (716) 586-2959

-- Linda Tompkins: 2171 Morris Dr., Seneca Falls NY 13148 (315) 568-2519

-- Judy Wolfe: 13 Hickory Pond Dr., Penfield NY 14526 (716) 388-1721

-- George Wolfe: 13 Hickory Pond Dr., Penfield NY 14526 (716) 388-1721

NYC Metro

-- Susan Scherle: 99 Wyoming Ave., Long Beach NY 11561 (516) 889-4557

-- Elliott Solomon: 991 S. Carley Ct. N., Bellmore NY 11710 (516) 781-7076

-- Phyllis Citrin: 6 Chippewa Ct., Suffern NY 10901 (914) 368-4203

South East

-- Jon Lovelett: 3 Willow Rd., Beacon NY 12508 (914) 831-3958

-- Carole Diehl: 41 Diehl Rd., Callicoon NY 12723 (914) 482-5568

-- Michael Abrahamson: 5 Brooklands Farm Rd., Poughkeepsie NY 12601 (914) 462-3106

West

-- Susan Holt: 5195 Donnington Rd., Clarence NY 14031 (716) 759-8761

-- Marilou Bebak: 4962 Mt. Vernon Blvd., Hamburg NY 14075 (716) 627-2333

-- William Reigelsperger: 44 East Ave., Naples NY 14512 (716) 374-5133

-- Harriet Beck: RD 2 Box 214, Wellsville NY 14895 (716) 593-5950

-- Thomas Moser: 1653 Haskell Rd., Olean NY 14760 (716) 372-4771

OHIO:

Painesville

-- Carol Fleck: 613 Mentor Ave., Painesville, OH 44077 (216) 352-8766

-- Gerald Matson: 6511 Marden Dr., Painesville, OH 44077 (216) 352-9712

-- Ernie Richmann: 48 Lincoln Blvd., Painesville, OH 44077 (216) 354-5976

-- Gayle Svets: 401 Cedarbrook Dr., Painesville, OH 44077 (216) 354-224