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LSA DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY

T H E V I S I O N

The Department aspires to become one of the top chemistry departments in thenation. Enormous strides towards accomplishing this goal have been made throughthe tremendous success in recruiting outstanding faculty members and students tothe program. In the last seven years alone, the Department has hired 18 new facul-

ty members across the full spectrum of the chemical and biochemical sciences andhas successfully competed against many top institutions such as Berkeley, Stanford,and Yale for both faculty and students alike. This progress is reflected in the mostrecent US News and World Report ranking of our analytical and organic groups as11th and 12th in the nation, respectively. Chemistry's standing in the sciencecommunity will only continue to rise in the coming years as we recruit additionalnew, outstanding student and faculty colleagues to the Department.

T H E V A L U E

The Department of Chemistry at the University of Michigan has a storied history oflandmark research and innovation. From the discovery of organic free radicalswhich opened up major fields of research ranging from physical chemistry to polymerchemistry to biology, to the first chemical synthesis of a steroid, which helped toopen up the modern era of medicinal chemistry, to fundamental discoveries on thestructure of matter, which resulted in a Nobel Prize for one of our graduates, theDepartment has long been at the forefront of research in the chemical sciences.

Today, faculty in the Department are leading the way in all aspects of the chemicalsciences: discovering and testing new medications for cancer, autoimmune diseases,and malaria; developing the next generation of medical/biological imaging and sensortechnologies; and enabling the way for a hydrogen economy with the design of newmethods and materials for hydrogen storage. Students graduating with a degree inChemistry from Michigan have established themselves as productive, independent

research scientists and scholars. After completing the program, students are wellpre-pared for challenging careers in the forefront of science and technology.

T H E D I F F E R E N C E

Preserving-let alone continuing to build-the excellence for which the ChemistryDepartment is known is becoming an increasingly difficult task in the face of drasti-cally reduced state funding and the intense competition for the best students and fac-ulty. To achieve its goal of becoming the premier chemistry department in the coun-try for both teaching and research, the Department must continue to attract and retainsuperb faculty, provide competitive financial support or fellowship packages for out-standing graduate and undergraduate students, continue to enhance the curriculum,

and generate a source of flexible, undesignated funding to seed new initiatives. Donorscan assist by providing support in the following areas:

Future Faculty Development Program $2 million endowedOur program for future faculty development is dedicated to the principle that new fac-ulty members should arrive on campuses as prepared to take on all their professionalresponsibilities with as much care and ability as they put into research. The UMDepartment of Chemistry could establish the first research-based, institution-wideeffort for future faculty education. We are fortunate to be ahead of a growing nation-al interest in this topic, and we are ready to provide the premier model as institutions

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around the country and around the world consider how they will address the need toadd this component to their educational programs in order to better prepare the nextgeneration of faculty. An endowment of $2 million would allow us to institutionalizethis cutting-edge program and provide funds to support students involved in the cur-riculum-development aspects of this program.

Materials Science Initiative: Energy $2 millionTechnologies for Environmental SustainabilityMaterials chemistry is one of the most important new developing areas in the chemi-cal sciences. Creating new technologies that minimize the environmental impact ofthe world's growing population is one the most important emerging areas in the chem-ical sciences. Several groups in the Department have research efforts focused on developing renewable energy resources (e.g., hydrogen) for fueling automobiles and mobileelectronic devices, creating efficient and clean chemical processes for manufacturing ofpharmaceuticals and polymers, and designing materials for fuel cells and organic elec-tronics. Establishing centers of excellence in these areas is necessary for creating arobust intellectual environment capable of addressing societal needs. Such centers areessential to house and maintain major research instrumentation required in the disci-

pline; to provide funds to recruit additional faculty, students, and staff; and to providea forum for scientists from the US and abroad to come to Ann Arbor to interact withand collaborate with Chemistry's materials scientists. A fund of $2 million would bethe catalyst that would allow us to create the premier materials science program in thecountry.

Endowed (Named) Professorship $2 millionEndowed professorships and chairs have long been recognized as both a hallmark of aca-demic quality and a means by which a university honors its most esteemed scholars andteachers. Professorships are reserved for scholars of international stature, with highly dis-tinguished records of teaching, research, and publication. They constitute a time-hon-ored way to recruit or retain scholars with exceptional records of achievement.

Named Research Professorship $1 millionThe advancement of knowledge through research is one of the primary responsibilitiesof a university. Research professorships allow for increased lab and research time fortenured faculty who have undertaken major research initiatives in their disciplines.Research professorships enable these scholars to concentrate on conducting significantnew investigations or to complete a major paper or review on completed research.

Research Funds for Collegiate Professors $500,000 endowed$25,000 annually

The College honors distinguished faculty members by awarding them 5-year CollegiateProfessorships, non-endowed positions that are funded by the College and named atthe professor's discretion for prestigious former faculty members. Such professorships

are a valuable tool for recruiting, rewarding, and retaining excellent faculty. The pro-fessorships provide only minimal funding, however, which typically does not begin tocover the costs of equipment and other research needs. This endowment would enablethe Chair to award holders of collegiate professorships funds for their research pro-grams, so that they might be able to support additional graduate fellows, or invest insophisticated equipment or laboratory renovations. Such an endowment would pro-vide added value and prestige to a faculty member's selection as a Collegiate Professor.

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Named Faculty Career Development Professorship $1 million endowed$50,000 annually

Faculty career development professorships support the research and teaching ofuntenured junior faculty whose work shows unusual promise. These young scholarsdevelop exciting courses and develop new research projects and opportunities with stu-dents. The recipients of a named career development professorship usually will already

have established a strong scientific presence, as evidenced by success in obtainingmajor research grants and publications in top tier journals. These professorships typi-cally will be awarded for three years and will provide funds for these individuals to ini-tiate difficult or innovative new lines of research and to develop new courses. Facultydevelopment professorships are an important means of recruiting and retaining valuedyoung faculty members and supporting outstanding scholarship. A gift of $1 millionwould endow such a professorship in perpetuity; annual funds of $50,000 will supportone junior faculty member for one year.

Graduate or Post-Doctoral Fellowship $750,000 endowed$37,500 annually

Proceeds from this endowment would provide full stipend and tuition for a Chemistry

graduate student or stipend and research start-up assistance to support a post-doctoralfellow. Because so many graduate students are recruited according to the Department'sbroad research strengths, this endowment will enable the Department to recruit tal-ented young scientists to pursue research work in specific, targeted areas of the chem-ical sciences. The endowment will provide flexibility for the student, and strengthenthe Department's ability to recruit and retain top-notch scientists.

Student Summer Research Or Travel Awards $150,000 endowed$7,500 annually

An endowed gift of $150,000 would generate $7,500 annually to enable one or moreundergraduate or graduate research students to travel to international conferences, orto travel to the laboratory of a collaborator in another country.

Department Strategic Fund $100,000Expendable, undesignated gifts are extraordinarily important to the continuing successand growth of the Department. Contributions to the Strategic Fund make it possibleto meet unexpected needs and challenges such as:

Seed funding for new faculty researchCurriculum developmentResearch lab maintenance and upgradesPurchase or repair of major instruments for the research and teaching labsSummer research opportunities for undergraduates

All donors will be eligible for Presidential Society Recognition opportunities, includ-ing the President's Club ($15,000), the Tappan Society ($50,000) and the HutchinsSociety ($100,000).

P A G E T H R E ELSA MAKING THE MICHIGAN DIFFERENCE

LSA DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY

C O N T A C T I N F O

LSA Development,Marketing & CommunicationsCollege of LSA500 South State Street, Ste 5000

Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1382P.734.615.6333F.734.647.3061www.lsa.umich.edu