Stanford undergraduates pursuing studies in biology should thank the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), which has recently awarded the University with a four-year grant, totaling $1.5 million, to support undergraduate education in biology.

Prof. of Biological Sciences Craig Heller, who initiated and sustained Stanford’s involvement with HHMI, said that the funding is “instrumental in a huge growth in the involvement of undergraduates in research at Stanford.”

On campus, the HHMI award supports competitive grants for undergraduate summer research as well as laboratory equipment and student online interactive materials. According to Heller, the money is also used to fund outreach programs, scientific meetings and publications such as The Stanford Biologist and Stanford Scientific.

According to the HHMI Web site, 214 research universities were invited to apply for the awards. Of the 158 applications received, 50 were selected to receive between $1.5 million and $2.2 million in funding. The total amount of funding doled out for the 50 grants was $86.4 million.

Stanford has received numerous benefits from the HHMI grant since the program began in 1989.

Robert Simoni, chair of the of the Biological Sciences department, called the HHMI award “hugely valuable,” since it is the only grant the department receives for undergraduate education.

He also highlighted the importance of the grant money to the department’s honors program, because all honors candidates are required to do research.

“This year in biology, 65 of our students will graduate with departmental honors,” Simoni said. “This is approaching 50 percent of our students, so it’s really quite successful.”

The HHMI program has provided money for about 50 undergraduate summer research grants every year, according to Heller.

Simoni added that the research fellowships support students “not just in biology but Human Biology, bioengineering and sometimes chemistry. [The money] is broadly used for biology research, but not just in the Biology Department.”

Heller also discussed how the HHMI grant has motivated the VPUE to make money available for freshman and sophomore research experiences.

“That’s not independent research — it’s not a competitive grants process — but what it does is it helps prepare students and make them more aware of what the opportunities are,” he said.

Junior John Shen has participated in research in a cancer biology lab since his freshman year. He says that while the research experience itself is much more valuable than the money he receives from URP, the grant makes it easier for him to be able to do research at Stanford over the summer.

Heller expressed hope that undergraduate students would be more aware of the HHMI grant.

“I think students should really appreciate and be grateful for the Howard Hughes Foundation for making [their research] possible,” he said.