September 1, 2006

Educators Ask Why Evolution Is Absent From Majors Eligible for New Grants

By SAM KEAN and STEPHEN BURD

Like a gap in the fossil record, evolutionary biology is missing from a list of majors that the U.S. Department of Education has deemed eligible for a new federal grant program designed to reward students majoring in engineering, mathematics, science, or certain foreign languages.

Late last week, David Dunn, the department's chief of staff, issued a statement saying that the omission was inadvertent and would be corrected. But some observers were still suspicious that the subject