The anonymous donor who pledged $130 million to the Institute to fund the construction of two new buildings has nearly tripled the original amount, promising an unprecedented $360 million to the school.
While the earlier donation was specifically earmarked for the Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies and the Electronic Media and Performing Arts Center, the money is now completely unrestrained, making it the largest unrestricted donation ever made to a school in the United States.
"The remarkable generosity of this donor will enable Rensselaer to move boldly into new arenas that are vital for society," said Institute President Shirley Ann Jackson.
Jackson cited biotechnology and information technology—both goals outlined in The Rensselaer Plan—as two of those arenas.
"Biotechnology and information technology already have exerted a transformational impact on society," Jackson said. "This extraordinary gift will enable Rensselaer to play a leading role in enabling society to reap the still-unimagined benefits of these exciting technologies."
The implications of the gift will be one of the topics discussed at Jackson’s town meeting on Wednesday, March 28.
Eddie Knowles, vice president for student life, said he sees the money being used "for scholarships, to fund research, hire more faculty, residence renewal, and athletic facilities."
He also pointed out that such a large and unrestricted gift "gives a clear statement as to how the leadership of the Institute is viewed."
The Rensselaer Plan calls for a dramatic increase in research, doubling the size of the graduate school, and improving campus life and the student experience.
The research goals include increases across the board, with a primary focus on biotechnology and information technology. In biotechnology, new multidisciplinary programs are planned for four research areas: functional tissue engineering, integrative systems biology, biocomputation and bioinformatics, and biocatalysis and metabolic engineering.
The gift gets the Institute off to a good start, but Knowles cautions that there is still a lot of work ahead. "We are not set," he said. "We need more than this to reach our goals."
