University of Colorado at Boulder Distinguished Professor William Wood has received the American Society for Cell Biology's top education award, the seventh annual Bruce Alberts Award for Distinguished Contributions to Science Education.
A professor in CU-Boulder's department of molecular, cellular and developmental biology, Wood was honored for his ongoing efforts to promote science-based teaching methods. He also was cited for his 1974 textbook, "Biochemistry: A Problems Approach," that still is considered a revolutionary textbook by the science education community.
The award was presented to Wood at the society's 44th annual meeting in Washington, D.C. last month. The award was established to honor Bruce N. Alberts, current president of the National Academy of Sciences and a longtime faculty member at the University of California, San Francisco.
"Bill has been an innovator in biology education from the time he started at Caltech," said Alberts. "He showed us a way to teach kids to think instead of just memorizing."
Wood was instrumental in launching the first National Academies of Science Summer Institute for Undergraduate Education in Biology last summer in Madison, Wis. He also served on a 1999 National Research Council committee to evaluate advanced placement science courses in American high schools.
"We need to learn how to do a better job of educating our undergraduates," said Wood. "We should approach our teaching the same way we approach science, gathering evidence for the best techniques to use."
Wood received a bachelor's degree from Harvard University and a doctorate from Stanford University before beginning his teaching career at the California Institute of Technology in 1965. He came to CU-Boulder in 1975 as a visiting professor in MCD biology and became a full-time faculty member in 1978. He went on to serve multiple tenures as both chair and associate chair of the department.
In 1972, at age 34, Wood became one of the youngest members of the National Academy of Sciences. He was elected to the NAS for his pioneering research on the formation of complicated viruses that infect bacteria.
He was named a CU distinguished professor in 2002.
Wood received a prestigious Humboldt Research Award in 2004 in recognition of a lifetime of scientific achievements, including groundbreaking work that could produce a better understanding of how genetic defects can lead to the birth of malformed children.
Wood's teaching award is the second prestigious teaching award given to a CU-Boulder faculty member in recent months. Distinguished Professor Carl Wieman of physics was named the national Professor of the Year last November by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education.