The National Math and Science Initiative (NMSI) recently announced the first three universities (eventually there will be twelve) that will receive grants to expand programs to train more secondary math and science teachers.

Florida State University, the University of Florida, and the University of Colorado at Boulder are receiving nearly $5 million each to adopt the popular and successful UTeach program as a link between their natural science and education programs. Developed in 1997 by the University of Texas in Austin, UTeach gives college math and science students hands-on time in a real classroom while allowing them to pursue their original course of study.

Despite a sharp increase in science teachers graduating from the University of Texas, it has still taken 10 years for UTeach to gain popularity on other campuses. But a slice of a $125 million pie provided by ExxonMobil for the NMSI has moved things along a bit--52 universities submitted proposals for a UTeach grant.