Tomorrow’s innovators need advocates today
How can we better protect newborns from respiratory viruses? To answer this question, Nancy Cheong, a recipient of The Schimmel Family Endowed Fellowship Fund in the Skaggs Graduate School of Chemical and Biological Sciences, has carved out a unique multidisciplinary project, working in the labs of Assistant Professor Alejandra Mendoza and Professor Luke Wiseman.
How does memory formation go wrong in a disease like Alzheimer’s? Marwan Ghanem, a recipient of the Helen L. Dorris Fellowship for the Skaggs Graduate School of Chemical and Biological Sciences, is developing tools in Associate Professor Giordano Lippi’s lab to grow our understanding of how memory forms in the brain.
How can we better harness cutting-edge technologies like gene editing? Reilly Mach, a recipient of the Jack Satter / Skaggs Graduate Fellowship Fund, is investigating how to make gene editing safer and more effective after joining Assistant Professor Shannon Miller’s brand-new lab in 2022.
Cheong, Ghanem and Mach are just a few of the recipients of philanthropic support in Scripps Research’s graduate program, each seeking to answer big questions and improve the human experience. Behind these stories are endowed fellowships helping provide the institute and labs with the necessary funding for these students to pursue their research passions and tackle high-risk, high-reward projects.
Spurring science through fellowships
Scripps Research prides itself on offering all students a tuition-free graduate education. To do so, the institute funds a student’s first year, while the student’s chosen lab covers the costs in the following years (on average, a doctoral journey takes five years). When a student receives an endowed fellowship in the Skaggs Graduate School, three years of their studies are covered by philanthropy, rather than the institute and labs.
For faculty, reducing graduate student costs helps build their labs and advance early-stage research, improving their chances of securing future funding. This is especially important for faculty at the start of their careers who may not yet have the resources to support students. For graduate students, receiving philanthropy-funded fellowships offers them more confidence in their studies, more flexibility in which labs they can join and more freedom to craft collaborative projects. When equipped with endowed fellowships, principal investigators (faculty who direct a lab) and graduate students are empowered to pursue higher-impact science.
Through efforts to establish more endowed fellowships, institute leadership seeks to benefit not just the students currently in the program but also future generations of students. Endowed fellowships are strategically invested funds that provide long-term student support, preserving the exceptional training at the Skaggs Graduate School amid changing landscapes in funding scientific education.
Investing in Scripps Research students
Philanthropists have championed Scripps Research’s graduate program since the very beginning when Richard Lerner, then-president of the institute, and Norton Gilula, the inaugural dean of graduate studies, launched this one-of-a-kind graduate program. During its first few decades, several donors—including the Kellogg family—gave generously to help lay the foundation for a school where students could explore fearlessly at the intersection of chemistry and biology.
Understanding the pivotal role graduate students play in shaping the future of science and medicine, Scripps Research launched a campaign in 2018 to establish 100 three-year endowed fellowships to begin securing the future of the graduate school. Longtime Scripps Research supporters and advocates for scientific education, the Skaggs family made a transformative lead gift through the family’s foundations, encouraging others to join alongside them to empower curiosity-driven scientific training.
“Scripps Research’s graduate program is home to promising scientists eager to improve the world around them through their research,” says Claudia Skaggs Luttrell, member of the Scripps Research Board of Directors and secretary of The ALSAM Foundation. “Funding endowed fellowships not only supports these talented students in their journeys but also empowers the scientific breakthroughs that could benefit us all.”
Striving for 100
Institute leadership, faculty and board members swiftly united in support of the campaign, and several named endowed fellowships in the inaugural fellows cohort. Additionally, many external supporters and foundations joined the Skaggs family in this initiative. While sharing a core belief in the potential of Scripps Research’s graduate students, donors held distinct inspirations for establishing endowed fellowships.
Some dedicated endowed fellowships in memory of a loved one who had passed away, for instance, the fellowships named after John C. Martin, Reba and Nat Newman or Wendy Havran. Others named endowed fellowships to celebrate outstanding mentors, like those in honor of Dennis Burton, Christopher Walsh or Ian Wilson. While each endowed fellowship name holds a story, all create an enduring legacy of propelling student success.
Celebrating Scripps Research’s Newest Alumni
While Scripps Research has completed its initial push for 100 endowed fellowships, the institute continues its efforts to fully endow the graduate program and safeguard its ability to train future innovators. Approximately 60 percent of graduate students in years one to three are currently supported by endowed fellowships. Additional support from individuals, organizations and foundations is crucial to reach 100 percent.
Every day across the institute, graduate students like Cheong, Ghanem and Mach are putting in the hard work that leads to breakthroughs. The questions they seek to answer could transform science and medicine in the decades to come. With donor support, Scripps Research will continue striving to provide all graduate students the ability to explore each question with confidence. Imagine the future they could create.
Supporting scientific education can come in many forms beyond establishing an endowed fellowship
From the start of the graduate program, donors have funded annual graduate student awards, like the Baxter Foundation Fellows and ARCS Scholars programs. Awards like these can provide pivotal support for tuition, stipend, travel, professional development or other costs students face. Scripps Research supporters are also helping ignite students’ curiosity—from elementary to undergraduate—by fueling internships and educational outreach programs for budding scientists.
In 2024, endowed fellowships and philanthropic awards supported 177 high school interns, undergraduate researchers, graduate students and postdoctoral scholars.