Diane O'Dowd Recognized for Teaching and Research

Irvine, Calif., April 5, 2006 - UC Irvine neurobiologist Diane O'Dowd has been named a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor. Following the institute's highly competitive selection process considering hundreds of applicants, O'Dowd has become one of 20 researchers nationwide to each receive a $1 million award this year for bringing the creativity they have shown in the lab to the undergraduate classrooms at their universities.

"I am grateful to the Howard Hughes Medical Institute for supporting researchers who have shown a commitment to teaching," O'Dowd said. "I love teaching, but I want to do it in the context of my research program. This award will help me devise new ways to accomplish this goal, and it will also enable me to teach others to do the same."

As professor in UCI's departments of developmental and cell biology and anatomy and neurobiology, O'Dowd studies the neuron connections that account for learning and memory in fruit flies, and regularly brings research into her classroom. On the first day of class, she tells her students that the fruit flies she works on in her lab remember information in much the same way that humans do. The flies can be trained to avoid an odor by pairing it with unpleasant stimuli, like electric shocks. More importantly, she explains that long-term retention of the association requires repeated pairings punctuated by intervals of rest. While the flies can learn quickly, if they "cram" -- getting repeated pairing with no rest intervals -- they, like their undergraduate counterparts, soon forget what they have learned.

O'Dowd had already used interactive teaching in her small classes, but she was unsure of how to incorporate active learning in a new introductory course, Bio 93 -- a four-section mega-course that would serve 1,600 incoming freshmen. But after attending a workshop in 2004 sponsored by HHMI Professor Jo Handelsman at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, O'Dowd was inspired to find new ways to create dynamic learning environments that foster student engagement and help develop critical-thinking skills. She formed small in-class work groups, employed clickers that students used to answer questions, and created in-class demonstrations. One such demonstration involved a huge model of a cell made out of items she had at home -- including hollow rubber balls that turn inside-out to represent vesicles that undergo exocytosis (when cells release substances into the extracellular fluid) and surf-rack foam to explain changes in protein conformation. E-mails from appreciative students began to pour into O'Dowd's inbox.

Susan Bryant, dean of the School of Biological Sciences, says O'Dowd's award is well deserved. Bryant is the lead administrator for a $3.45 million National Science Foundation ADVANCE grant designed to increase the hiring and retention of women faculty members in science and engineering.

"Diane is a gifted scientist who is deeply committed to the education of our undergraduate students" said Bryant. "By applying research techniques to her teaching, she has developed active-learning strategies that both educate and inspire a passion for science in her students. I am delighted that the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, a national pioneer in the movement to reform science education, has recognized Diane for her important accomplishments, which are a indeed a gift to the students of UC Irvine."

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute is dedicated to discovering and disseminating new knowledge in the basic life sciences. HHMI grounds its research programs on the conviction that scientists of exceptional talent and imagination will make fundamental contributions of lasting scientific value and benefit to mankind when given the resources, time and freedom to pursue challenging questions. The institute prizes intellectual daring and seeks to preserve the autonomy of its scientists as they pursue their research.

A nonprofit medical research organization, HHMI was established in 1953 by the aviator-industrialist. The institute, headquartered in Chevy Chase, Md., is one of the largest philanthropies in the world, with an endowment of $14.8 billion at the close of its 2005 fiscal year. HHMI spent $483 million in support of biomedical research and $80 million for support of a variety of science education and other grants programs in fiscal 2005.

About the University of California, Irvine: The University of California, Irvine is a top-ranked university dedicated to research, scholarship and community service. Founded in 1965, UCI is among the fastest-growing University of California campuses, with more than 24,000 undergraduate and graduate students and about 1,400 faculty members. The second-largest employer in dynamic Orange County, UCI contributes an annual economic impact of $3.3 billion. For more UCI news, visit www.today.uci.edu.

###
Contact:
Susan Bryant
(949) 824-5316
svbryant@uci.edu