Mellon Foundation grant supports COM center for media innovation and impact
The award, for $487,000 over three years, will fund projects related to environmental justice storytelling.
The Boston University Foundation Relations team, within the Office of Development & Alumni Relations, helps faculty identify, apply for, secure, and steward charitable gifts and grants from private philanthropic foundations and nongovernmental organizations. We match faculty research and programs with foundations’ priorities, which are often to support pilot projects and high-risk research that may not be attractive to traditional funders such as NIH and NSF. Additional details about how we work can be found in this overview.
“Without the help of Foundation Relations, none of these projects would have happened. They tirelessly sought out funding opportunities. Once a grant was secured, they made it their personal mission to make sure that we kept in good standing with the foundation and continued to receive funding year after year.”
—Casey Taft, PhD, Professor, Psychiatry
Hundreds of foundation programs are focused on early-career faculty. Their funding can be highly beneficial, helping to seed a new project, confirm proof of concept, or generate pilot data. In contrast to federal funders, private funders are more willing to support high-risk, high-reward projects.
For more on the impact of foundation support to BU, see this report.
foundation support to BU in FY24
proposals and LOIs the Foundation Relations team helped faculty submit in FY24
“Meet the Funder” events organized by the Foundation Relations team over past three years
Numerous faculty members from across the University receive foundation support. Here are a few recent examples.
The award, for $487,000 over three years, will fund projects related to environmental justice storytelling.
Jennifer Bhatnagar, associate professor of biology, leads the project, centered around the survival of urban trees and how understanding their adaptative capabilities could contribute to preservation initiatives.
SPIE's gift of $500,000, matched by BU, will support students at the BU Photonics Center. SPIE has made 12 major gifts to universities in support of optics and photonics education, research, and talent development.
Ahmad (Mo) Khalil, professor of biomedical engineering, leads the $1.5 million-funded project, which could result in improvements in cell therapies by streamlining the engineering of mammalian cells.
Florian Douam, PhD, assistant professor of virology, immunology, and microbiology, and Jessica L. Fetterman, assistant professor of medicine, were both selected to receive $400,000 for basic science research.
Michelle Teplensky, assistant professor of biomedical engineering, received an Individual Biomedical Research Award from the Hartwell Foundation to develop a vaccine targeting illnesses caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae bacteria.
The fellowship will support Dr. Fulweiler in creating a research program in data science focused on coastal systems, which will lead to the creation of a data-driven taxonomy for coastal environments.
Led by Cristian De La Rosa, Associate Dean for Students and Community Life, the Nurturing Immigrant Children's Faith Experiences En Familia Program will encourage children and teens to engage in their worship and prayer contexts.