The innovative teaching abilities of three ASPB members have been recognized by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), which has awarded them each $1 million. Richard Amasino, Bonnie Bartel, and Susan Wessler are three of the 20 researchers who have been named 2006 HHMI Professors. The awards are intended to give professors free-rein in creating programs that get undergraduates excited about the world of science. To that end, professors may use the money however they choose-from broadening the scope of hands-on experiments to adding classes for students who may have little interest in science. At the University of Wisconsin, Professor Richard Amasino is developing a course for non-science majors to build an understanding of the nature of science, with an emphasis on evolution and public perception of science. Additionally, he has developed self-fertile, rapid-cycling Brassica rapa lines to be used to create tools for teaching classical and molecular genetics in K-12 and undergraduate settings. He chose Brassica rapa to be able to build upon the pioneering educational efforts of Paul Williams' FastPlants project. To delve deeper into the mechanisms of evolution, University of Georgia Regents Professor Susan Wessler will be leading students through genetic analyses of transposable elements in plant genomes. Her goal is to make students aware of the changes that occur within a genome and how these variations can provide a record of the organism's adaptation through time. Bonnie Bartel, the Ralph and Dorothy Looney Professor of Biochemistry and Cell Biology at Rice University, will attempt to stem the loss of potential science majors who may be turned off by impersonal introductory lecture classes. Small groups of freshman will tour labs, meet with researchers, and review experimental data. Sophomores in a new lab module will analyze unknown plant enzymes and produce preliminary data that can be expanded upon in more extensive research in faculty labs.

Susan Wessler Rick Amasino Bonnie Bartel