Sept. 16, 1998
Contact: W. Otto Friesen (804) 924-5493


Lab Renovations at Top of List
BIOLOGY DEPARTMENT AWARDED $1.2 MILLION GRANT
	The University of VirginiaÕs Department of Biology has been
awarded a $1.2 million grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute to
strengthen its undergraduate education, it was announced today.
	The four-year grant -- with an additional $550,000 in matching
funds from the U.Va. Office of the Provost -- will be used primarily to
improve the departmentÕs facilities and equipment, said biology
professor and chair W. Otto Friesen. ÒWe will also restructure and
modernize the content of our lab courses,Ó he said.
	ÒThis is a new effort,Ó Friesen added, although it is not
the first time the biology department has received HHMI funding.
	Slated for renovation are the departmentÕs laboratories and
one of its medium-sized lecture halls, according to Friesen.
	U.Va. was one of 58 doctoral universities awarded the grants out
of 191 proposals reviewed in a competitive process. The grants, which
range from $1.2 million to $2.2 million, bring to more that $425 million
the amount HHMI has awarded since 1988, the largest private initiative
in U.S. history to enhance undergraduate science education nationwide.
For more information, see http://www.hhmi.org/undergrad98
	The Howard Hughes Medical Institute is a biomedical research
organization that employs more than 330 scientists in HHMI laboratories
at 72 academic medical centers and universities nationwide.
						###

Television reporters should contact the TV News Office at (804)
924-7550.