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 Press Release 062107
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The Institute for Systems Biology Receives a $721,000 K-12 Science Education Grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute

ISB's Center for Inquiry Science to work with Renton School District professional development staff on a Systems Education Approach to Science for teachers

SEATTLE -- June 21, 2007 -- The Institute for Systems Biology (ISB) has received a five-year, $721,000 grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The Center for Inquiry Science (CIS) at ISB will use the grant to collaborate with the Renton Schools in training the district's K-5 professional development staff in the systems approach to science. CIS is the education arm of the non-profit ISB.

"HHMI is one of the nation's most prestigious funders of research and education in science, so receiving this grant is certainly an honor, and I believe it speaks to the impact we've demonstrated in the area of science education improvement in Washington state," said Dana Riley Black, director of CIS. "We are very excited about working with the Renton District to ensure students there are exposed to leading edge approaches to science that researchers are using to make incredible discoveries today."

The largest privately funded education initiative of its kind in the United States, HHMI's grants program is enhancing science education for students at all levels, from the earliest grades through advanced training. Since 1988 HHMI has awarded approximately $1.5 billion in grants. Ten of this year's awardees received a grant from HHMI during the Institute's community outreach grant competition in 2003.

ISB's contribution to that effort will focus on its leading role in systems-based inquiry science. Systems scientists view biology as an information science and as an area of science that can only reach its full potential when engineers, computational biologists, geneticists, physicists, mathematicians and computer scientists work together to study the entire human biological system and how all its parts interact, rather than just focusing on the individual parts themselves.

Through the pilot program, working scientists from the Institute and other organizations in the community will be paired with professional development coaches and science specialists from the District. Those individuals will receive training in systems approaches to science that are supportive of the district's curriculum during the summer and monthly throughout the school year. Desired outcomes include:
  • A professional development staff highly prepared to support classroom teachers' teaching of science
  • Models for training professional development staff that will be sustained and disseminated through CIS to regional schools and districts,
  • Pre-college students better prepared for the 21st century
  • Researchers better able to discuss science with public audiences, and
  • An enhanced repertoire of ISB education activities.
"The fact that our students have an opportunity to engage in the very latest methods of scientific inquiry as facilitated by one of the most advanced research institutes in the world is just incredible," said Jane Goetz, director of Curriculum for the Renton School District. "It's very exciting for us to develop a firm and ongoing relationship with ISB."

The mission of CIS is to enable schools and districts to have the capacity to produce scientifically literate and capable students by creating and supporting a statewide infrastructure, comprised of collaborative and regional partnerships among schools, districts, and community partnerships that will train and support science educators.

In 2006 CIS:
  • Supported teachers and administrators in 21 school districts whose student populations account for 24 percent of Washington State's student population
  • Developed, coordinated and/or facilitated 76 professional development events serving 1135 science educators
  • Generated more than $800,000 in grants, gifts and fee-based revenue, approximately $543,000 of which came from outside Washington state, to help schools build strong and inquiry-based scientific literacy among the state"s student population. Grants were provided by such organizations as the National Institutes of Health, the Boeing Company, the National Science Foundation, the Washington state Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction/Pacific Science Center and the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations.

About the Institute for Systems Biology
The Institute for Systems Biology (ISB) is an internationally renowned, non-profit research institute headquartered in Seattle and dedicated to the study and application of systems biology. Founded by Leroy Hood, Alan Aderem and Ruedi Aebersold, ISB seeks to unravel the mysteries of human biology and identify strategies for predicting and preventing diseases such as cancer, diabetes and AIDS. ISB's systems approach integrates biology, computation and technological development, enabling scientists to analyze all elements in a biological system rather than one gene or protein at a time. Founded in 2000, the Institute has grown to 12 faculty and more than 200 staff members; an annual budget of more than $25 million; and an extensive network of academic and industrial partners. For more information about ISB, visit www.systemsbiology.org.

CONTACT:
Todd Langton
Associate Director of Communications and Public Relations
(206) 732-1333
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