George Garza, a first-generation college student from Levelland, Texas, carried out research on plant genetics through the HHMI program at Texas Tech. He is now a medical student at the University of Texas Houston Medical Center.

The remarkable changes that have occurred at Texas Tech University in Lubbock over the past several years illustrate the impact that HHMI's undergraduate biological sciences education program has had at colleges and universities nationwide.

Texas Tech has made biology come alive for large numbers of students. Many undergraduates are getting involved in research early in their academic careers. Student researchers receive year-round support — even during the summer, when they might otherwise be working at a menial job. Many of the students have presented their research results in meetings or in publications, and a substantial number have gone on to graduate school or medical school.

In addition, Texas Tech has revamped many of its undergraduate laboratories and courses for majors. An annual Science Day draws hundreds of teachers and students interested in biology from a wide area around Lubbock. A traveling laboratory program has brought modern biology to thousands of high school students, and a satellite link makes connections with previously isolated campuses.

The changes taking place at Texas Tech exemplify trends in undergraduate biology education that HHMI has sparked nationwide - in curriculum, approaches to teaching and learning, student research, outreach to the community, and other areas. (For more information, see: http://www.hhmi.org/beyondbio101.)
A few other examples:

• The University of Chicago is developing an integrated biology curriculum for non-science majors that bridges the biological and physical sciences and includes laboratories in human genetics.

• The University of California — Los Angeles, is integrating teaching in the biological sciences with the physical sciences, mathematics, and computer science.

• The University of Utah has combined summer and academic-year research, high school outreach, and curricular reforms to transform undergraduate biology.

•  Carnegie-Mellon Universityhas introduced an interdisciplinary approach to its introductory courses, which also challenge students to carry out research in teams and to explore emerging sciences, such as "computational biology."

• Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, has 11 new courses in a curriculum that emphasizes molecular biology and bioinformatics.

• Duke University and others are offering programs that focus on neuroscience.