Eric and Wendy Schmidt Donate $5 Million to the Institute for Advanced Study to Support Memberships and Campus Programs
PRESS CONTACT: Alexandra Altman, (609) 951-4406
Eric Schmidt, Executive Chairman of Google Inc. and Trustee of the Institute for Advanced Study, and Wendy Schmidt, President of The Schmidt Family Foundation, have donated $5 million to support four Members across the Schools of Natural Sciences and Mathematics and support campus programs and promotion. The Schmidt Fellows will receive support related to all aspects of the academic appointment and community life that are unique and fundamental aspects of the Institute experience. The $5 million gift from Eric and Wendy Schmidt is an important contribution to the Campaign for the Institute, which ends on June 30, 2015 and helps to complete the $100 million campaign challenge, established by the Simons Foundation and the Charles and Lisa Simonyi Fund for Arts and Sciences.
The donation to the Institute will support the world’s top early-stage talent in mathematics and the natural sciences with the time, space and conducive environment to push the boundaries of human understanding. Visiting scholars and post-doctoral fellows at the Institute, known as “Members,” are at the heart of the Institute’s mission to encourage and support curiosity-driven research in the sciences and humanities. They are selected from the world’s leading universities and research institutions and spend time at the Institute addressing some of the most intriguing questions across the sciences and humanities, unencumbered by teaching and administrative obligations. The gift to the Institute will also be designated for the purpose of promoting the Institute and its work through the convening of important campus programs designed to draw key audiences, including academics, philanthropists, thought leaders and media outlets.
“Not only does the Institute bring together academics of the highest level, but it is a symbol for the importance of academic freedom and basic research,” said Robbert Dijkgraaf, Director and Leon Levy Professor. “This generous gift from Eric and Wendy allows us the freedom and independence to draw exciting young talent and cultivate programs on campus for existing and new audiences.”
About the Institute for Advanced Study
The Institute for Advanced Study is one of the world’s leading centers for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. The Institute exists to encourage and support curiosity-driven research in the sciences and humanities—the original, often speculative thinking that produces advances in knowledge that change the way we understand the world. Work at the Institute takes place in four Schools: Historical Studies, Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Social Science. It provides for the mentoring of scholars by a permanent Faculty of approximately 30, and it ensures the freedom to undertake research that will make significant contributions in any of the broad range of fields in the sciences and humanities studied at the Institute.
The Institute, founded in 1930, is a private, independent academic institution located in Princeton, New Jersey. Its more than 6,000 former Members hold positions of intellectual and scientific leadership throughout the academic world. Thirty-three Nobel Laureates and 40 out of 56 Fields Medalists, as well as many winners of the Wolf and MacArthur prizes, have been affiliated with the Institute.