PHOTO: FRANK VERONSKY908 27 MAY 2022 • VOL 376 ISSUE 6596 science.org SCIENCET
he Howard Hughes Medical Institute
(HHMI) is taking a novel approach
to the chronic problem of under-
representation in U.S. academic sci-
ence: lavishly fund a relatively small
number of young scientists and then
sit back and let their “happy labs” produce
a more diverse workforce.
On 26 May, HHMI announced it will
award $8.6 million over the next decade to
each of 150 life scientists in tenure-track
positions. The unprecedented amount of
funding for early-career researchers is ex-
pected to draw thousands of applicants.
Winners, who will also become HHMI
employees, do not themselves
need to be from a group under-
represented in science. (In fact,
federal law prohibits the use of
race or gender as a criterion for
hiring.) But a commitment to
a diverse, equitable, and inclu-
sive (DEI) work environment
is essential.
“Excellence comes first,” says
Leslie Vosshall, HHMI’s chief
scientific officer, who notes that
the winners will be required to
spend at least 80% of their time
at the bench. “But we’re also
looking for people to whom stu-
dents representing all metrics
of diversity will flock, making
their labs hotbeds of diversity
within the department.”
The $1.5 billion initiative,
called the Freeman Hrabowski
Scholars Program, is named for the retir-
ing president of the University of Maryland
(UMD), Baltimore County, who has spent
30 years perfecting and then replicating
the much-admired Meyerhoff Scholars
Program to boost the number of minor-
ity scientists. Hrabowski, a mathematician
who is Black, thinks the new program has
great potential for “moving the needle,” as
he puts it.
“It takes a scientist to produce another
scientist,” he says, endorsing HHMI’s deci-
sion to focus on research excellence. “The
Hughes brand will be a magnet for attract-
ing talent.” With universities eager to do
more to foster diversity, Hrabowski says,
the program is also well-timed. “I’m moreencouraged by this than by anything I’ve
seen since we began Meyerhoff,” he says.
The magnitude of the HHMI program
makes it “potentially transformative,” agrees
Stephen Thomas, a professor of public health
at UMD who also directs the mentoring com-
ponent of a diversity initiative funded by the
National Institutes of Health (NIH). But
Thomas, who is Black, says a well-funded
lab doesn’t always translate into an inclu-
sive environment. Excellent scientists of any
demographic can fail as mentors, he says.
“The current system of training researchers
is calcified and creates far too many tormen-
tors instead of mentors,” he asserts.
Mentoring will be key, Thomas says. He
notes NIH’s career development grants re-quire applicants to designate a senior sci-
entist who will tutor them. “Who is going
to mentor the HHMI scholars?” he asks.
Vosshall says current HHMI investiga-
tors—all senior scientists—will fill that role,
serving as “buddies” who will advise schol-
ars “on all aspects of developing their re-
search program, coping with setbacks, and
mentoring their people.” But Thomas would
prefer a more formal arrangement. “It takes
a lot of training to become a good mentor,”
he says.
The program’s success will also depend
on finding scientists who are truly com-
mitted to increasing diversity. “We’ve spent
thousands of hours over the last 6 months
figuring out how to do that,” Vosshall says.She notes that HHMI rejected one hiring
tool used by a growing number of universi-
ties trying to diversity their faculty.
“We explicitly did not go the route of ‘di-
versity statements’ because they more or
less look the same,” she says. “In fact, people
often cut and paste the statements of oth-
ers, and you don’t really learn anything.”
Instead, applicants will be asked to dis-
cuss their own experiences with discrimi-
nation and explain how they would do
things differently. For example, she says,
“if you have been in a lab where African
American or Latinx scientists have not had
a happy experience and have been pushed
out of science, how are you going to build a
space where that doesn’t happen?”
The initial winnowing of
what Vosshall predicts may
be a pool of 2000 or more
applicants will be “based
solely on a page and a half
response to those ques-
tions,” she says, with the
identities of the applicants
hidden to avoid reviewer
bias. The 300 or so who
survive that first cut will
then be judged entirely on
their scientific potential,
she adds. The first cohort of
30 winners will be selected
in March 2023, and HMMI
plans to hold competitions
every other year for four
subsequent cohorts of simi-
lar size.
The success of the pro-
gram won’t be measured by
the diversity of those cohorts, however. In-
stead, Vosshall plans to use two yardsticks.
The first is the relative demographics of
the students who train in the winning labs
compared with those in other labs. The
second is the ability of those students to
foster diversity after they get their own
academic positions.
“Our expectation is that happy and in-
clusive labs will attract a more diverse
pool of students,” she says about the first
goal. As for the second: “I think having
3000 people who have been given the
space and the grace to be able to do their
science without being constantly under as-
sault will make an enormous difference”
when they set up their own labs. jBy Jeffrey MervisSCIENTIFIC WORKFORCEHughes bets ‘happy labs’ will boost diversity
150 early-career scientists will get lavish funding based on research excellence
NEWS | IN DEPTH“We’re ... looking
for people to
whom students
representing all
metrics of diversity
will flock.”
Leslie Vosshall,
Howard Hughes Medical
Institute