Wiess School of Natural Sciences

Campaign Goal - $80 million

Investing in the People Driving Discovery - $50 million

Modern science depends on interactive, vertical teams — undergraduates, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and faculty — working together to address compelling and exciting questions about our world. To recruit the very best people, we must offer competitive endowed faculty chairs and graduate and postdoctoral fellowships. Establishing a visiting scholar program will infuse our already dynamic research environment with new ideas and strengthen our ties to peer institutions. Also, providing a significant hands-on research experience for all of our undergraduate majors will help them think outside of the box and spark their interest in a way that would not be possible through lectures or textbooks alone.

Investing in Innovation and Excellence - $30 million

If the Wiess School is to excel well into the future, we must provide funding to develop future-oriented research. Gifts for facilities create the space to perform cutting-edge research. Gifts dedicated to innovation funds seed untested projects that have the potential to open new frontiers and to bring distinction to Rice University. Gifts to establish excellence funds create flexible resources for the dean to apply with the greatest impact in supporting exciting research, recruiting and retaining star faculty, and promoting educational excellence. These funds allow the dean to take immediate advantage of opportunities, to leverage other institutional or federal resources, or to provide bridge funding for novel and risky projects.

For more information about supporting the School of Natural Sciences, contact your Rice development representative or Melinda Guthrie at 713-348-4268 or mguthrie@rice.edu.