IT is a common sight at many life science education meetings across the nation to find Peter Bruns listening in with rapt attention to a discussion of a new pedagogical tool or, more likely, the personal triumph of a set of students whom he has never met. Then comes the characteristic twinkle in his eyes, the broad grin, the rubbing of palms and the final exclamation, “That's fantastic!” It is obvious that this is a man who loves education, loves educational innovation, and cares as much about hearing about the successes of individuals as he does about the efforts of institutions.
For his extensive contribution to life science education, Peter Bruns is this year's recipient of the Elizabeth W. Jones Award of the Genetics Society of America. Named for Beth Jones, long-time editor of Genetics and avid supporter of genetics education, the Elizabeth W. Jones Award for Excellence in Education recognizes individuals or groups who have had a significant and sustained impact on genetics education at any level from K–12 through graduate school and beyond. Peter Bruns is distinguished in having made a difference across all these levels. Bruns received his A.B. in Zoology from Syracuse University and his Ph.D. in Cell Biology from the University of Illinois. He joined the genetics faculty at Cornell University in 1969 and over the next 30 years rose through the ranks to ultimately become Director of the Biological Sciences division. In 2001, he took on the position of Vice President of Grants and Special Programs at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), overseeing the development of numerous new initiatives in science education.
Bruns conducted pioneering research early on with the noted biologist Dave Nanney, characterizing immobilization antigens in Tetrahymena thermophilus. In his laboratory at Cornell University, Bruns maintained an active research program in the genetics and molecular biology of Tetrahymena, through which he introduced dozens of students to the excitement of research and discovery. David Asai, Director of Science Education at HHMI, has known Peter since his early research days and says that “Peter's research provided ways to ‘tame’ Tetrahymena so that its genetics are tractable and can be exploited. If we had to summarize Peter's research in one word, it would be ‘enabling.’ One of Peter's early studies showed that Tetrahymena mating requires two distinct stages prior to cell coupling: initiation and costimulation. I think that is a good metaphor for Peter's leadership in science education: he initiated a number of important programs and he understood that program success depends on the interest and preparation of all of the partners.”
During his first 20 years on the Cornell faculty, Bruns was focused mostly on running his research laboratory, but that shifted in 1989 when he was charged with finding out what Cornell should do to make science education better. “That drove me to concentrate on the idea that we in higher education needed to think about science education in a more organized fashion,” says Bruns, who coordinated Cornell's application for its first HHMI science education grant and spent the next 11 years directing HHMI-funded education programs on that campus. One of those programs focused on opening research opportunities up to undergraduate students and bringing research students together so they could talk about what they were doing. Bruns also played a pivotal role in starting the Cornell Institute for Biology Teachers, a professional development program that still serves science teachers across New York State.
After 31 years at Cornell, Bruns came to HHMI where he began his tenure as Vice President for Grants and Special Programs, directing the expansion of programming that aimed to improve science education at colleges and universities across the United States. Bruns brought with him a solid track record as a prolific research scientist and creative science educator and quickly established a reputation for applying scientific approaches to pursuing tough questions in science education. “A very critical role for us in science education, as in science, is to support innovative thinking, to allow people to do proof-of-principle work with our funding,” says Bruns. “We should be willing to support useful experiments that don't work, as long as our grantees know what happened and why. In that way we act as a catalyst to push science education in entirely new directions.” The success of his approach can be seen in numerous programs that have advanced the quality of undergraduate science education nationally.
Bruns knew from his own experiences that education is usually not on the radar screen of many top academic scientists, who focus more on research and training students in their own labs. He thought that the best way to improve science education at all levels would be to get top scientists to think more deeply about the problem. Who could be better at attracting students into the sciences than active researchers who understand that science is about being methodical, passionate, focused, and creative? “Researchers actually like to talk to students about science,” Bruns says. “Once they realize that's what you do when you teach—in fact, it may be the most important thing you can do, share your life aspiration—then teaching isn't a chore. It's exciting!”
That vision—with support from HHMI President Tom Cech and members of the Institute's science education staff—led to the creation of the HHMI professors program in 2002. This program helps top research scientists put their innovative ideas for science education into practice. To date, 40 HHMI professors have received support to use their own research interests as the inspiration for classroom and training activities to convey the excitement of scientific research to students, amplifying the impact of Bruns' initial vision. “You ask practicing scientists if they are doing experiments the same way they did them as a graduate student, and they will surely answer ‘of course not’. But ask if they are teaching the same way they did as a graduate student. Most are,” says Bruns. “How do scientists learn new science? They read the literature. They go to science meetings. They talk to colleagues. All of these approaches can work for science education too.” HHMI professors have been extremely appreciative of Bruns' dedication to education and his support of their efforts. Massachusetts Institute of Technology HHMI investigator and professor Catherine Drennan notes, “Because of Peter, I definitely think about my educational initiatives in a different way. I am now doing research on education and love education even more as a result.” HHMI professor and University of California, Riverside geneticist Susan Wessler reminisces, “It was because of Peter's suggestion that we shifted the focus of our Dynamic Genome Courses from upper classmen to freshmen. He visited our program during the first year and, after sitting in on a class, casually suggested that he thought that it would be perfect for incoming students. We tried it the next year and now the course is exclusively for freshmen.” As notable evidence of the impact of his foresight, three HHMI professors have been recognized by this genetics education award since its inception in 2007.
An important recent initiative of HHMI is the Science Education Alliance (SEA) program, a new model for HHMI to nationally disseminate products that have been developed by grantees to assist others in transforming science education at their institutions. Nearing the 20th anniversary of HHMI's science education programming, Peter wanted to expand HHMI's national role in advancing the training of future biomedical scientists by providing the best tools for the best students. The SEA, under the leadership of Tuajuanda Jordan, was created to develop the means by which to disseminate HHMI grantee-developed activities and to provide a place where scientist educators could gather and collaborate to modify the tools to meet their specific needs. About Bruns' efforts in creating the SEA, Jordan observes, “Peter's role in science education came full circle when the SEA was born. At Cornell, he was very active in developing programs that reached out to and engaged the local science education community. At HHMI, Peter's support of innovative, engaging science education activities continued, but his contributions were more behind the scenes in that his role was to provide funding support for the efforts of others engaged in training future biomedical scientists. With the SEA, Peter positioned HHMI to take a more active role in leading science education.” The SEA has evolved into a national force that supports scientist–educator alliances focused on providing resources targeting all students with the goal of increasing the production and quality of 21st-century scientists while enhancing science literacy. What started as a pilot course at a single institution with four students has grown into an alliance impacting more than 2800 students at 60 colleges and universities in four years. HHMI professor Graham Hatfull, scientist and educator at the University of Pittsburg whose Phage Hunters Integrating Research and Education (PHIRE) program is the first initiative to be disseminated through the SEA, credits Bruns' involvement in the success of the program, “Peter's unwavering support both for PHIRE and its extrapolation to the SEA was critical for broad impact of these programs.”
Bruns and his HHMI colleagues believed that leading scientists could have an equally large impact on another important societal challenge: the dearth of academic scientists at American colleges and universities who are drawn from minority or disadvantaged groups. That idea led to the creation of the Exceptional Research Opportunities Program (EXROP), which gives promising students from disadvantaged backgrounds the opportunity to spend a summer conducting research in some of the world's top research labs with HHMI investigators and HHMI professors as mentors. Since its inception in 2003, the program has supported well over 400 EXROP students, more than half of whom are pursuing advanced degrees in biomedical science. Extending the impact of these research experiences for select undergraduates, the Gilliam Fellowship program for EXROP alumni pursuing doctoral degrees in science, honoring the legacy of the late HHMI Trustee James H. Gilliam, Jr., was initiated in 2005.
Bruns spearheaded several initiatives to improve the graduate training of future scientists. The Interfaces partnership with the National Institutes of Health provides support to develop graduate programs that prepare students to become interdisciplinary scientists who can apply knowledge and techniques of physical science disciplines to the advancement of the biological sciences. Bruns was also very involved in the development of HHMI's Med into Grad Initiative, an innovative program that has provided support to 25 graduate programs focused on the translation of biology research into clinical or public health practice. Most recently, he contributed important support to a joint effort between HHMI and the Association of American Medical Colleges to re-envision medical training in the United States. The committee's 2009 report, Scientific Foundations for Future Physicians, proposes specific recommendations for premedical and medical education reform and continues to stimulate important national level conversations about the role of undergraduate science education in the training of the nation's physicians.
Inspired by the need to provide science educators a way to better share their ideas and resources, Bruns was centrally involved in the creation of CBE—Life Sciences Education, a free, online quarterly journal published by the American Society for Cell Biology. This electronic journal is written by and for educators engaged in biology teaching in all manner of teaching environments from undergraduate science programs at research universities to K–12 science classrooms. Sarah Elgin of Washington University said, “Without Peter's support for CBE—Life Sciences Education, I don't think that the journal could have gotten off the ground—it now has ∼8000 subscribers.” DNA Interactive and HHMI's Cool Science sites represent additional web-based resources for science educators that Bruns had a hand in bringing to life.
Over the years, Bruns' penchant for developing good ideas in science education extended beyond U. S. boundaries. Through a collaborative effort between HHMI and the European Molecular Biology Organization, he provided the impetus for new programming to attract talented young scientists to return to their home countries, a successful program that continues today. He also supported HHMI's research initiative in South Africa, which was a major departure from HHMI's traditional grant programs. HHMI is collaborating with the University of KwaZulu-Natal to bring outstanding research to address biomedical problems of global significance and translate the results of this research into the public health arena. Combining the work of two HHMI Investigators in partnership with two South African scientists, the KwaZulu-Natal Research Institute for Tuberculosis and HIV aims to contribute to the solution of a major health co-epidemic. A strong education component is included in this initiative to train future research leaders in Africa and to contribute to the sustainability of this center of excellence.
Recently retired from HHMI, Bruns continues to be active in science education leadership. He leaves his mark in the many successful programs that he initiated during his tenure, in his mentorship of so many individual scientists and science educators over the past four decades, and with countless science students who have benefited from opportunities and initiatives that stemmed from his good ideas. “I've known Peter Bruns as an outstanding scientist for many years,” said Thomas R. Cech, past-president of HHMI. “Peter wants students of all ages to share our excitement about biology and understand how it is changing the world. He's been a leader in strengthening the ties between scientists and schools, improving the effectiveness of science classrooms, and helping to train the next generation of researchers.” Bruns knows that while he has seen much progress in his 40 years as an educator, much more is left to be done. In typical fashion, he is still asking the questions that encourage us to look ahead: “How do you judge someone's effectiveness as a teacher? How do we do good peer review of teaching?” he challenges. “Those questions haven't been solved, but at least they are now being addressed.”
Over the years, educators from all corners of science have heard Bruns' familiar phrase “people, not projects” to describe his emphasis on supporting grantees in their own environments and addressing areas of need to help them be successful. Asked to consider how best to continue to engage scientists in the challenge of educating students, Bruns offers a characteristically reflective response. “At the end of people's careers, when they look back and think, what were the most important things they got done, it's the people's lives you've touched—and that's called teaching.”
The following quote from Jo Handelsman, winner of this year's Presidential Award for Science Mentoring nicely summarizes the Elizabeth W. Jones Award winner for this year: “Peter is a risk-taker of superb intuition about people and ideas. He provokes others to think broadly and experimentally. Once, he suggested eliminating introductory biology courses because they may do more harm than good, a suggestion that effectively provoked original thinking among his colleagues. He has supported new approaches to mentoring and educating faculty and devised ways to promote them to a larger community as soon as the data indicated that they had a positive impact. He continually thinks of new ways to manage assessment of education, pushing the community to more rigorous and accurate evaluation of their own efforts. In short, Peter has brought the powerful experimental skills and searing intelligence he applied to Tetrahymena to bear on education with fabulous results.”
Figure 1.
Peter Bruns (Photo by Paul Fetters for HHMI)