UNC has been chosen as one of the three universities to share in the $7.75 million grant from The Howard Hughes Medical Institution (HHMI) in order to increase and diversify the number of students that can participate in the fields of science, technology, economics, and mathematics, or STEM fields.

This money will be used specifically to increase the size of the Chancellor’s Science Scholars program, which allows for students, especially those of a low-income or underrepresented background, to have the opportunity and support to study in these STEM fields.

Chancellor Carol Folt stated that the grant will greatly aid the United States as a whole in building a diverse workforce through students of UNC. “With this grant from HHMI, we’re proud that we are charting a new course for how to train the next generation of great scientists and engineers,” Folt declared.

The Association of American Universities’ has also recently deemed UNC as one university out of eight for the association’s goal of improving the overall quality of the undergraduate education of STEM fields.

Hooker Distinguished Professor of Biology at UNC, Mark Peifer, believes that when it comes to increasing student resources for the future, we need all the help we can get. “Training the best scientists is critical now, yet our talent pool is shrinking. If we are going to solve the world’s problems, we need everybody at the table.”

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