Wesleyan Receives $500,000 Challenge Grant from Kresge Foundation

Olivia DrakeAugust 24, 20062min

Posted 08/24/06
The Kresge Foundation of Troy, Mich., has awarded a challenge grant in the amount of $500,000 to Wesleyan University. This grant will be applied toward the purchase of equipment for several Wesleyan science departments, including biology, chemistry, molecular biology and biochemistry, earth and environmental sciences and physics.

To apply to the Science Equipment Program, Wesleyan had to raise $500,000 and now must raise an additional $1 million to meet the terms of Kresge challenge grant and establish an endowment for repair and replacement of science equipment. According to the tenets of the grant, Wesleyan must raise $1.5 million to meet the challenge and establish an endowment for the repair and replacement of science equipment. To date the university has already raised $500,000 toward this goal.

Wesleyan’s planned purchases of advanced scientific equipment with the grant and additional money raised include:

– LC-Mass Spectrometer for Biology ($158,000)

– Gel Permeation Chromatograph for Chemistry ($148,000)

– Telescope Control System for the Astronomy department’s telescopes ($60,000)

– ICO-Mass Spectrometer for Earth and Environmental Sciences ($203,000)

– YAG/Dye Laser for Physics and Chemistry ($89,000)

– Microplate Reader for Biology ($61,000)

– Photosynthesis System for Biology and Earth and Environmental Sciences ($31,000).

In the next few years, Wesleyan will construct a state-of-the-art facility for teaching and research in the life sciences. The new facility will add roughly 80,000 square feet of departmental and community space that will enable Wesleyan to continue its academic leadership in the sciences.

The Kresge Foundation is a national foundation with $3 billion in assets that seeks to strengthen nonprofit organizations by catalyzing their growth, connecting them to their stakeholders, and challenging greater support through grants.