Summer Institute
Featured Activities and Reports
  • Participant map
  • Summer Institute teams have come from institutions coast to coast: from Florida to Alaska, from Hawaii to New England. See a new participant map to learn which institutions have sent teams to the Summer Institute.
  • New website
  • The Summer Institute is pleased to unveil its new website. All of the previous information is still here, but hopefully easier to find. Please contact us with any feedback or questions.
End of featured activities

The National Academies Summer Institute

Come explore new models of instruction for the large undergraduate biology classroom.
June 22-27, 2008
University of Wisconsin-Madison


An introductory undergraduate biology class might be the only exposure many students have to the life sciences, or to any of the sciences. It often serves as the best opportunity to interest students in a biomedical research or other life science career.

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the National Academies invite research university faculty to build teaching skills and transform the undergraduate biology classroom at a week-long gathering in beautiful Madison, Wisconsin. This unique Summer Institute on Undergraduate Education in Biology is designed to model the scientific teaching principles on which it is founded and draws on the expertise of both participants and presenters. Current research, active learning, assessment, and diversity are woven through the week, creating a forum for participants to share ideas and develop innovative instructional materials which they implement when they return to their own campuses.

Bio2010 The idea for the Institute emerged from the 2003 National Research Council report, Bio2010: Transforming Undergraduate Education for Future Research Biologists. The report concludes that faculty development is a crucial component for improving undergraduate biology education. It maintains that universities need to provide faculty with opportunities to refine classroom techniques and to better integrate concepts in math and physical sciences with biology.

This website provides information on past, present, and future Summer Institutes. Read news and journal articles about the Summer Institute and Bio2010 or find out about how to apply for future Summer Institutes.



The National Academies Summer Institute on Undergraduate Education Biology is organized by the National Research Council's Board on Life Sciences and Center for Education in partnership with the Wisconsin Program for Scientific Teaching at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Support for the National Academies Summer Institute is provided by:
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