POUGHKEEPSIE – Vassar College in the Town of Poughkeepsie has been awarded a $1.5 million grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute to deepen the college’s undergraduate science education program.

The grant, one of the college’s most substantial to date for science curriculum and programming, comes from the nation’s largest private supporter of science education: HHMI has invested more than $1.2 billion to reinvigorate life science education at both research universities and liberal arts colleges.

Vassar's $1.5 million award is nearly the largest from HHMI's newest $60 million funding initiative. Over 220 colleges were invited to apply for funds from this pool, and Vassar was one of only 48 colleges to receive awards, ranging from $700,000 to $1.6 million. Distinguished scientists and educators selected the grant winners through a stringent review process.

"This outstanding support from HHMI will help us extend in several important ways how we educate the next generation of scientists, as well as how we further scientific literacy on campus and in the community," said Vassar president Catharine Bond Hill. "We look forward to new opportunities for student-faculty collaboration, and enhancements to our curriculum and facilities that will keep us on the cutting edge. And I'm very gratified that HHMI is supporting our outreach programs with the Poughkeepsie public schools."

Interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary teaching, research, and inquiry are hallmarks of the Vassar curriculum, and a key focus of the HHMI grant. Another emphasis of the grant is to expand opportunities for students to conduct original research with professors; Vassar's science graduates consistently say such projects are transformative experiences.