By Duke Medicine News and Communications

DURHAM, N.C. -- Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) announced today that Huntington Willard, Ph.D., director of the Duke Institute for Genome Sciences & Policy, has been named a HHMI Professor. He is one of 20 scientists selected in a national competition to receive $1 million each to support activities to improve undergraduate science education.

"The scientists whom we have selected are true pioneers—not only in their research, but in their creative approaches and dedication to teaching," said HHMI President Thomas R. Cech. "We are hopeful that their educational experiments will energize undergraduate science education throughout the nation."

Willard has authored or co-authored more than 300 scientific papers, primarily on topics involving the sequence and organization of the human genome, as well as on the molecular structure and function of chromosomes, the structures that carry and organize the estimated 25,000 human genes.

The HHMI funding will be used to create and support programs to expand research opportunities for Duke undergraduates in the study of genomes, beginning with an intensive small group seminar program for incoming freshmen on "The Genome Revolution", which Willard began in 2004. The Genome Revolution seminar explores the genome project and its consequences from different perspectives.

For Willard, the freshman seminar represents a golden opportunity to engage Duke students as they walk in the door. "Why are we doing it?" he asks. "Because freshmen are the greenest, widest-eyed kids on our campus; they're the ones we want to connect to first."

As an HHMI Professor, Willard will link the FOCUS course to open-ended, multiyear research opportunities in laboratories in the Duke Institute for Genome Sciences & Policy, involving interdisciplinary teams of students. New advanced courses in the genome sciences will be developed for juniors and seniors as well.

Willard received an A.B. in biology from Harvard University and a Ph.D. from Yale University. He has held research and academic posts at Stanford University, the University of Toronto and Case Western Reserve University, where he was chairman of the Department of Genetics. He joined the faculty at Duke University in 2003.

In 2005, HHMI invited 100 research universities with outstanding track records in sending graduates to medical or graduate schools to nominate up to two faculty members to compete for its professorships. A panel of distinguished research scientists and educators, including some HHMI professors selected in the most recent competition, reviewed 150 applications. The panel based its selections on evaluations of the potential impact of the proposals on undergraduate science education, on the quality of the applicants' research and educational accomplishments, and on the potential for the proposed programs to serve as models elsewhere.