UC Merced’s efforts to make science education more inclusive were given a huge boost after the campus was awarded its first Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) grant, an impressive mark of distinction that reflects the strong upward trajectory of the campus’s research and teaching efforts. One of 33 schools selected to join the HHMI Inclusive Excellence initiative, UC Merced will receive $1 million over five years to test a new undergraduate biological sciences curriculum — one that’s more inclusive of underrepresented and non-traditional students.