Yale Bulletin and Calendar

September 27, 2002|Volume 31, Number 4

With a $1 million grant from the Howard Hughes Institute, Yale chemistry professor Alanna Schepartz (left) is developing sophomore-year courses designed to spark students' interest in chemistry.

Courses to expose students earlier to 'thrill' of research

Chemistry professor Alanna Schepartz has received a $1 million grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) to enrich undergraduate education in chemistry by creating courses that expose students to the excitement and creativity of cutting-edge research earlier in their college careers.

"Most undergraduates are seniors by the time they encounter the thrill of conducting or even reading about current, pioneering research," says Schepartz, the Milton Harris '29 Professor of Chemistry and professor of molecular, cellular and developmental biology. "They are turned off by slogging through three years of discoveries that are decades or centuries old. By that time, many are committed to other careers and lost forever from scientific enterprise. Worst of all, most students graduate with little appreciation of the role science plays in society."

To help counteract this problem, Schepartz will use the HHMI grant to design a pair of lecture and laboratory courses -- "Chemical Biology" and "Chemical Biology Laboratory" -- that begin the second semester of the sophomore year. Chemical biology is one of the most exciting and fastest growing interdisciplinary fields
in modern chemistry, she explains. Researchers in this area use techniques and principles of chemistry to understand and control biological processes.

In designing her courses, Schepartz also considered the reality that too few women go into academic research chemistry. Women, she said, earn fewer than 30% of Ph.D. degrees in chemistry from the top 50 chemistry departments in the United States, and they make up only 11% of the faculty of those chemistry departments.

Her lecture course will provide a sophisticated survey of the field, complete with case studies and articles from primary literature. The laboratory course will be open-ended and research-driven, with publications, presentations and summer research. Graduate students and postdoctoral associates, many of them women, will mentor the undergraduates.

Schepartz hopes the classes will not only attract more students to research, but will enlighten others who will use the knowledge in other ways.

"The general public suffers deficits in scientific knowledge and, importantly, lacks knowledge of the way science is practiced," Schepartz says. "Businesspeople, politicians, writers and health care professionals who understand current science practices and culture can help us create a more informed public."

The HHMI invited 84 research universities to nominate faculty members. A panel of scientists and educators reviewed 150 nominees' proposals and eventually selected 20 HHMI professors at 19 universities in
13 states.

The HHMI Professors also will participate in the HHMI investigators' scientific meetings at the institute's headquarters in Chevy Chase, Maryland. They will serve as a resource for scientists striving to improve undergraduate education nationwide.

HHMI is a private philanthropy dedicated to biomedical research and science education. The institute employs 324 investigators who conduct basic medical research in HHMI laboratories at 69 of the nation's leading research centers and universities. Through its complementary grants program, HHMI supports science education in the United States and a select group of researchers abroad.

T H I SW E E K ' SS T O R I E S

Courses to expose students earlier to 'thrill' of research

Student's 'urban museum' showcases city's modern architecture

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan to speak on campus

Conference marks anniversary of Holocaust archive

Gift will continue work of Yale center devoted to studying impact of slavery

Educator stresses importance of grooming 'future Bouchets'

Murals at Peabody open 'window' on Maya culture

Exhibit showcases works by longtime Yale professor

'Blessing' of washerwoman's legacy brings New Haven policeman to Divinity School

Event advances knowledge of Vietnam's toxic legacy

Anti-drug advertising curbs teen use, says SOM researcher

Expert on racism during Civil War to join faculty

Just a Bowl of cheerers: Employee Day at the Yale Bowl

A place for poetry

Lecturer speaks about newest issues in field of information technology

'Intersections' aims to close the rift between academic theories and . . .

Noted cancer specialist and surgeon Dr. Jack Westley Cole dies

Fair will acquaint (and re-acquaint) staff about myriad of University benefits . . .

Donations of computers can help bring India into 'Information Age'

College master showcases his private art collection

Quilts, photos featured in new show

Nursing school staff take part in training retreat

Rubenfeld featured in library book discussion