The Howard Hughes Medical Institute announced Wednesday a world renowned UW professor would serve as the vice president of science education starting September.

According to UW Molecular Biology, Genetics and Medical Genetics professor Sean Carroll, he and HHMI directors had discussed the new job position for the past six to eight months. The position was finally offered to him in February, but it took until Wednesday to finalize the contract.

As the new vice president of science education, Carroll said he would promote undergraduate science education in liberal arts colleges and research universities across the nation.

Carroll said he will form partnerships with these institutions in hopes of supporting undergraduate research, graduate fellowships, training medical students and programs that involve high school teachers.

“Hughes has been a critical player in the change in the way science is taught, the way science is being taught in terms of the introduction of more active learning in classrooms and especially exposing students to research at an earlier and earlier stage,” Carroll said.

Carroll added he is looking forward to his new position that will also emphasize encouraging underrepresented minorities in science and introduce a series that produces DVDs that will be distributed worldwide without cost to schools.

Carroll said he has served as a HHMI investigator for roughly the past 20 years, during which HHMI funded his research on animal development and evolution with the genes used for the building and patterning of animal bodies and how they work to shape animal kingdom diversity.

“It think he’s probably the most preeminent researcher in the field of evolution right now, nationally and internationally,” said Michael Culbertson, chairperson of both UW’s School of Medicine and Public Health and its College of Agriculture & Life Sciences.

Culbertson added he thinks Carroll is one of best-known professors on campus within the science community.

Among his various accomplishments, Carroll is a member of National Academy of Scientists author of “Remarkable Creatures: Epic Adventures in the Origins of Species,” which was a finalist for the 2009 National Book Award in nonfiction, Culbertson said.

“What distinguishes him from most other Howard Hughes professors is that he is particularly interested in educational issues, in addition to research,” Culbertson said.

Carroll said in addition to findings in advanced research papers, his experience writing textbooks, weekly health columns for The New York Times, producing educational DVDs and publicly speaking around the world for general audiences makes his new role as vice president of science education an easy transition.

Carroll will have to shuttle back and forth between his new HHMI office just outside Washington D.C. and his current lab in Madison.

Culbertson said although Carroll is replacing former Vice President of Science Education Peter Bruns, he would remain a professor at UW and continue researching with his 10-person research team despite his new responsibilities.

“I definitely said, ‘If I wasn’t excited, I wouldn’t do it,’” Carroll said. “There’s a little apprehension, of course, because it’s new challenges and new people and new responsibilities, but that’s the good part of life too: if you don’t take those risks, don’t happen.”