Cornell Stories: Life Sciences
Cornell establishes "genius grants" in the life sciences.
Peter Meinig '61 and Nancy Meinig '62
The finest scientists are creative and ambitious. They ask provocative questions that define new worlds. They uncover patterns in data that first appear unconnected.
With just a few bold and well-calculated leaps, they make advances that would otherwise take decades. In the fields related to life science, their discoveries can lead humankind toward a deeper understanding of the foundations of life or toward radical new technologies for improving it.
With a $25 million campaign gift, chairman of the Board of Trustees Peter Meinig '61, BME '62, along with his wife, Nancy '62, and their family have chosen to empower some of these "best of the best" researchers at Cornell. In May they announced the establishment of the Nancy and Peter Meinig Family Investigatorships in the Life Sciences.
Researchers selected for these highly competitive awards will each have access to up to $300,000 per year for up to five years. The awards will be available to Ithaca-based faculty first and will extend to Weill Cornell Medical College faculty as the endowment grows. Recipients can use the funding for salary, research expenses, and support for graduate students or postdoctoral students. Most important, they can pursue ambitious new projects that might not otherwise be possible.
Grants are the lifeblood of most labs. Projects are typically funded by governmental agencies such as the National Institutes of Health or the National Science Foundation. However, as public agencies, these organizations invest in tightly defined areas of research. It's a structure that doesn't always reward projects that break traditional molds.
Yet, paradigm-shifting ventures also have the potential for a big payoff--and a radical influence on science. This potential is precisely what the Meinig Investigatorships aim to cultivate.
"We want our best people to be able to step back and think about high-impact, high-risk problems," says Stephen Kresovich, vice provost for life sciences. "The investigatorships are an important way for us to acknowledge research excellence. They're like the MacArthur awards," Kresovich says, referring to the fellowships awarded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation that are popularly called "genius grants." Those prestigious fellowships, which also carry a substantial stipend, often generate a significant amount of fame for the recipients.
Among life scientists, the Meinig Investigators will be similarly well known. In fact, Peter Meinig hopes that the possibility of being selected will attract the most gifted scientists to Cornell and motivate researchers to stretch. "We want these awards to encourage them to take some risks that could really make a difference," he says.
Meinig hopes that the family's gift will also encourage fellow alumni to stretch. "It's exciting to recognize that you've done something you've never done before," he says. "We knew that making a gift this big would require some funds that might otherwise go to our family or our foundation, so we all needed to be part of it," he explains.
The Meinigs; their daughters Anne Meinig Smalling '87, Sally Meinig Snipes, and Kathryn Meinig Geib, MBA '93; and their daughters' husbands and children came to the decision together.
"We all feel that this is important, not just for Cornell," he says, "but also for humankind."
Adapted from Communiqué, Fall 2007. Originally written by Jennifer Campbell.