May 31, 2012
Contacts:
Aragula (Guru) Rao, Biochemistry, Biophysics and Molecular Biology, 515.294.6116, gururao@iastate.edu
Amy Andreotti, Biochemistry, Biophysics and Molecular Biology, 515.294.6116, amyand@iastate.edu
Troy Ross, Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust, 563.263.4010
Annette Hacker, News Service, 515.294.3720, annette@iastate.edu
Labh Hira, ISU Foundation, 515.294.4077, lhira@foundation.iastate.edu
Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust awards $7.5 million to advance research initiative in biomolecular structure; Iowa State proposes named department
Ames, Iowa — Pending approval by the Board of Regents, Iowa State University’s Department of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Molecular Biology will be named in honor of the Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust, in recognition of gifts and commitments to the department totaling more than $12.3 million.
This support includes a $7.5 million commitment announced today to support strategic research initiatives in biomolecular structure.
Also known as structural biology, this scientific field seeks to better understand basic biomolecular function, which can hold the key to unlocking important new discoveries in wide-ranging areas important to human, plant and animal life.
With the Regents’ approval, the new name will be the Roy J. Carver Department of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Molecular Biology.
“The purpose of this most recent investment in Iowa State University is to further enhance what are already successful research endeavors in the dynamic scientific field of structural biology,” said Troy Ross, executive administrator of the Carver Charitable Trust.
Ross went on to say that, “the board of trustees anticipates that this highly focused award will provide an infusion of intellectual capital through both the hiring of topflight new faculty and by attracting some of the very best graduate students nationally and abroad, as well as create the capacity to acquire some of the most cutting-edge laboratory instrumentation utilized in this area of study. When fully implemented, this initiative should serve to bring greater attention to the overall research enterprise of the department of biochemistry, biophysics and molecular biology from the scientific community at large.”
“The Carver Trust has been a key partner with Iowa State University for more than 25 years, and we are honored to recommend to the Board of Regents that the university’s department of biochemistry, biophysics and molecular biology carry the Carver Trust name,” said Iowa State University President Steven Leath. “The Carver Trust’s financial support to the university has totaled more than $38 million in grants, gifts and commitments, making it one of our strongest supporters. We are very grateful for this partnership with the Carver Trust, and we look forward to the exciting new research and learning opportunities that this investment will create.”
“The Carver initiative in biomolecular structure will provide an exciting framework in which we will advance our research toward a better understanding of the complex molecules within biological systems,” said professor Amy Andreotti, who will oversee the initiative. “All forms of life are driven by diverse molecular machines that control every aspect of biological function.”
According to Andreotti, detailed knowledge of biomolecular structure and function is necessary to identify new solutions to challenges in areas ranging from medical and pharmaceutical science, to plant and animal health, insect control, food and nutrition, bioenergy, and biomaterials.
“These are areas in which the university has interdisciplinary strengths,” Andreotti noted. “As a faculty group, we’re extremely excited to further advance this area of biomolecular research at Iowa State with the generous support of the Carver Trust.”
This is the single, largest gift in the department’s history and represents the greatest concentration of support by the Carver Trust of Muscatine, Iowa, to any particular entity at Iowa State. The gift will create the first named faculty positions in the department of biochemistry, biophysics and molecular biology. It also will provide funding for laboratory development and startup support for new faculty, research-related equipment, and graduate and post-graduate educational and training assistance.
“The Carver Trust and Iowa State share a vision to posture the department of BBMB as the premier destination for structure-based investigations of macromolecular function,” stated Aragula Rao, department chair. “Together with support from our colleges, this gift will enable us to achieve prominence as a world-class department.”
Endowed Dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Wendy Wintersteen and College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Dean Beate Schmittmann agree that the investment by the Carver Trust will bolster commitments the colleges have made to dramatically increase the visibility and stature of the department’s research concentration in biomolecular structure. This sort of partnership, they say, can propel research endeavors in biomolecular structure to a new level of prominence in this important and contemporary area of science.
The Carver Trust has previously supported many areas of the university. In the past 10 years alone, more than two dozen Iowa State faculty members have received a combined total of more than $5 million from the Carver Trust to support their respective research agendas. Numerous students have benefited from substantial scholarships through the Roy J. Carver Scholars Program, which assists Iowa students overcoming social and economic obstacles in pursuing an education.
Several key construction and renovation projects at Iowa State also have received significant support from the Carver Trust, including Hach Hall, the university’s chemistry facility; the Roy J. Carver Co-Laboratory, where university and private-sector scientists work in partnership; and Hoover Hall and Howe Hall, which have expanded Iowa State’s engineering teaching and research capacities.
About the Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust
The Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust is one of the largest private philanthropic foundations in Iowa with assets of more than $250 million and annual grant distributions of over $12 million. It was created through the will of Roy J. Carver, a Muscatine industrialist and philanthropist, who died in 1981.
Since it began its grant-making activities in 1987, the Carver Trust has distributed more than $258 million in the form of nearly 2,000 individual grants. The Carver Trust focuses its charitable giving on biomedical and scientific research; primary, secondary and higher education; and youth-related needs.
About the Department of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Molecular Biology
The Iowa State University Department of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Molecular Biology is jointly administered by the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. It offers degrees in biochemistry and biophysics from bachelor’s through doctoral, and also provides graduate degrees in several interdisciplinary majors. The research and education mission of the department is to better understand the molecular mechanisms of living systems in terms of fundamental chemical and physical principles. It is home to a renowned group of scientists working in the field of biomolecular structure. The program has received millions of dollars of uninterrupted funding from the National Institutes of Health for more than 15 years.