Skaggs Family Gives $2 Million for New TSRI Graduate Program Endowment

LA JOLLA, Calif., June 2, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Skaggs family has given a new $2 million gift to support exceptional students in The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) graduate program.

"I would like to thank members of the Skaggs family for their remarkable generosity, which has had a transformative effect on this institution," said TSRI CEO Peter Schultz. "This new endowment, which brings the family's total gifts to TSRI to approximately $131 million, will help us continue to recruit the best students for advanced training at the intersection of biology and chemistry. In so doing, the gift also benefits our faculty, whose research programs will be enhanced by the efforts of these outstanding fellows."

The new gift was made through the Skaggs family's foundation, The ALSAM Foundation.

"I am delighted that members of the ALSAM grants committee, including TSRI Trustees Claudia Skaggs Luttrell and Mark Skaggs, have chosen to support the training of the next generation of scientists who will forge new ground in medicine and drug discovery," said TSRI President Steve Kay. "I would like to express my deep appreciation for this support."

Luttrell added, "At the ALSAM Foundation, we carry on the legacy of my parents' belief in the importance of education and medical research for the betterment of humankind. We hope this gift will fulfil this philosophy by training the next generation of scientists, while contributing to the scientific knowledge that underpins new therapeutic discoveries."

Beginning this fall, one exceptional member of the entering class will be selected by the TSRI admissions committee to be designated as a Skaggs Fellow.

The Skaggs Fellow's first-year stipend will be paid from the new endowment funds. In addition, in subsequent years of study, the student will receive a research supplement of up to $5,000.

For more information on TSRI's graduate program, which is consistently ranked among the top 10 in the nation in its fields of chemistry and biology, see the Education web pages [http://education.scripps.edu/index.html].  

About The Scripps Research Institute

The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) is one of the world's largest independent, not-for-profit organizations focusing on research in the biomedical sciences. TSRI is internationally recognized for its contributions to science and health, including its role in laying the foundation for new treatments for cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, hemophilia, and other diseases. An institution that evolved from the Scripps Metabolic Clinic founded by philanthropist Ellen Browning Scripps in 1924, the institute now employs more than 2,500 people on its campuses in La Jolla, CA, and Jupiter, FL, where its renowned scientists—including two Nobel laureates and 20 members of the National Academy of Science, Engineering or Medicine—work toward their next discoveries. The institute's graduate program, which awards PhD degrees in biology and chemistry, ranks among the top ten of its kind in the nation. For more information, see www.scripps.edu.

SOURCE The Scripps Research Institute

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