The Howard Hughes Medical Institute has announced the selection of thirty-three colleges and universities for the second round of an initiative aimed at encouraging students from diverse backgrounds to participate and engage in the sciences.

Through its Inclusive Excellence initiative, the institute will award $1 million over five years to each institution to boost its capacity to engage all students in the study of science, especially undergraduates who matriculate from a non-traditional path. With a focus on underrepresented ethnic minorities, first-generation college students, and working adults, the program challenges schools to identify the reasons students are discouraged from studying science and to find ways to include them in opportunities to achieve science excellence.

Joining a diverse cohort of twenty-four colleges and universities selected in 2017, the thirty-three schools have proposed a range of plans for engaging more students in science, including the development of culturally sensitive curricula and faculty training, the use of technology to help students manage their family and cultural obligations, the creation of programs that engage large numbers of undergraduates in course-based research experiences, and the empowerment of students to serve as role models in the classroom.

Each of the fifty-seven schools will work with HHMI and its partner, the Association of American Colleges and Universities, to increase the inclusion of students from diverse backgrounds in science education and drive cultural change on campus.

"This initiative is about encouraging colleges and universities to change the way they do business," said HHMI president Erin O'Shea, "[and] become institutions with a significantly greater capacity for inclusion of all students, especially those from non-traditional backgrounds."

For a complete list of the institutions receiving grants, see the HHMI website.

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