The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) announced on September 16 that it was awarding $91.1 million to strengthen undergraduate education programs in the biological sciences at universities across the United States.

This brings to more than $425 million that HHMI's undergraduate grants program has awarded since 1988 — the largest private initiative of its kind in U.S. history. The grants are helping colleges and universities to expand research opportunities for undergraduates, update science courses and curricula, attract new faculty in emerging fields of science, and modernize laboratories through new scientific equipment and technology. Many campuses have also expanded their science outreach programs with nearby schools and community colleges.

Why is HHMI doing this? What has the program accomplished? And, most important, how is biology education changing at the undergraduate level? You'll find the answers here.