April 22, 2008

Kalamazoo College Receives $1 Million Grant From the Howard Hughes Medical Institute

KALAMAZOO, Mich. – Kalamazoo College has received a $1 million grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) to expand its science students’ research opportunities, enhance their classroom experiences, and support their service-learning outreach to K-12 students in Kalamazoo Public Schools (KPS) and elsewhere.

Kalamazoo received similar four-year HHMI grants in 2004 ($1.1 million) and 2000 ($800,000). It joins Calvin and Hope colleges as the only 2008 HHMI grant recipients in Michigan. Nationally, 48 colleges in 21 states and Puerto Rico received grants ranging from $700,000 to $1.6 million this year.

About 40 percent of the Kalamazoo grant will fund student research programs, while 25 percent will fund community outreach programs. The remainder will be spent on curriculum development and laboratory equipment.

“Our HHMI funds allow us to do something other universities think is a little bit nuts,” said Jeffrey Bartz, chemistry professor and program director for Kalamazoo’s HHMI grant. “We allow our undergraduates to pick their own summer lab experiences anywhere in the world and use our grant money to support them.”

More than 80 percent of Kalamazoo’s students study abroad for six months or longer. To keep science majors immersed in research during that time, the College will use some of its HHMI grant to fund students’ work with HHMI International Research Scholars—promising scientists from outside the United States who are making significant contributions to understanding basic biological processes or disease mechanisms.

Kalamazoo’s HHMI grant will also help fund some of the service-learning activities in which more than 70 percent of Kalamazoo students participate each year. Most of these activities are administered by the Mary Jane Stryker Institute for Service-Learning at the College, and include: “Keeping the Doors Open,” a math program that pairs Kalamazoo College students with KPS elementary and middle school students; and “The Art & Science of Medicine,” a summer residential workshop for high-school students interested in biomedical careers.
The College will also use the HHMI grant to fund interdisciplinary faculty collaborations, and to acquire a research-grade mass spectrometer instrument will find broad application within Kalamazoo’s teaching and research program.

HHMI invited 224 colleges with a track record of preparing undergraduate students for research careers to submit proposals. Grant winners were selected through a stringent review process by distinguished scientists and educators that narrowed 192 applicants down to 48 winners.

HHMI (www.hhmi.org) is the nation’s largest private supporter of science education. It has invested more than $1.2 billion in grants to reinvigorate life science education at both research universities and liberal arts colleges and to engage the nation’s leading scientists in teaching. One of the world's largest philanthropies, HHMI is a nonprofit medical research organization that employs hundreds of leading biomedical scientists working at the forefront of their fields. Its headquarters are located in Chevy Chase, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C.

Founded in 1833, Kalamazoo College (www.kzoo.edu) is a nationally recognized liberal arts college and the creator of the “Kalamazoo Plan.” By emphasizing scholarship, civic engagement, and study abroad, Kalamazoo cultivates “A Fellowship in Learning: At Home in the World” among students, faculty, and a community of scholars worldwide. In 2008, Kalamazoo College celebrates the 175th anniversary of its founding and the 50th anniversary of its pioneering study abroad program.

ADDITIONAL CONTACT:
Jeff Bartz, Kalamazoo College Professor of Chemistry and HHMI Program Director (269-337-7021).