The Howard Hughes Medical Institute supports the efforts of scientists, educators, colleges and universites, as well as other organisations through its various grants and programs. HHMI awarded Davidson College grants of $700,000 in 1988, $650,000 in 1996, $1.3 million in 2004, and $1.5 million in 2008 for combined total funding of $4.15 million through the undergraduate program. These grants support a multi-layered strategy to encourage science careers by providing undergraduate research experiences, supporting those underrepresented in the sciences in multiple years, and improving performance by all students in gateway mathematics and science courses through a new Math and Science Center.

Davidson is among 48 undergraduate institutions nationwide receiving a total of $60 million from HHMI "to help usher in a new era of science education."

"The undergraduate years are vital to attracting and retaining students who will be the future of science,” said HHMI President Thomas R. Cech. “We want students to experience science as the creative, challenging, and rewarding endeavor that it is.”

The goals of the latest grant are to create new programs to improve:

Student Research and Broadening Access to Science:

A multi-layered strategy to encourage science careers by: providing undergraduate research experiences, supporting those underrepresented in the sciences, and improving performance by all students in gateway mathematics and science courses.

Curriculum, Equipment, and Laboratory Development:

Opportunities for faculty to develop curricular initiatives that engage students in multidisciplinary thought, and continued support for our innovative, interdisciplinary neuroscience and genomics programs.

New, Current, and Future Faculty Development:

Programs to foster academic careers in science including a postdoctoral teaching fellow, research and teaching interns, and junior neuroscience faculty nationwide. Support for local and international (GCAT) workshop opportunities for faculty.

Precollege and Other Outreach:

School and community-wide programs to encourage children and adults to experience the fun and excitement of science and mathematics, orchestrated by a full-time outreach coordinator within a newly-created Outreach Programs Office.