giving

CEMS Giving Opportunities

By making a gift to CEMS, you will help educate and empower future generations of leaders, invest in exceptional and enterprising professors, and maintain and build upon our history of excellence. Please consider supporting CEMS through one of the funds listed below or contact Courtney Billing (612.626.9501), CEMS External Relations Director, to learn more about ways to make a meaningful difference in CEMS.

Undergraduate Scholarships

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Click Here To See The Full List Of Undergraduate Scholarships

CEMS endowed scholarship funds and new gifts from alumni and friends provided crucial support to undergraduate students pursuing degrees in chemical engineering and materials science. With higher education costs on the rise and with students facing an uncertain future, the need for departmental scholarship support continues to grow.

To learn more, please contact Courtney Billing.

Graduate Fellowships

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Click Here To See The Full List Of Graduate Fellowships

Thanks to the exceptional generosity of alumni and friends of CEMS, the Department’s successful “Campaign FIRST” effort ensures that all first-year graduate students are supported with fellowship funding. The need to support graduate fellowships is ongoing, in order to attract the world’s brightest graduate students and remain competitive with other institutions that offer generous aid. 

To learn more, please contact Courtney Billing.

Endowed Chairs and Professorships

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CEMS faculty make extraordinary contributions in both the lab and classroom, advancing research discoveries and training the next generation of engineers, scientists, and academics. Philanthropic support helps our enterprising scholars to take risks and explore innovative solutions to some of the world’s most pressing problems in energy, the environment, and human health. You can help give the Department a competitive edge in recruiting new faculty and retaining accomplished faculty by establishing research funds, professorships, and chairs.

To learn how you can contribute toward existing professorships or chairs, or to create a lasting legacy in CEMS by establishing a new professorship or chair, please contact Courtney Billing.

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Amundson Professorship in Chemical Engineering

Give To The Amundson Professorship in Chemical Engineering

The Neal R. Amundson Professorship in Chemical Engineering and Materials Science was established by gifts from alumni and friends of Neal and the Department and by a matching gift from the Permanent University Fund (PUF). It is given annually to a tenured member of the department faculty for the purpose of professional development.

Neal & Shirley Amundson Chair in Chemical Engineering & Material Science

Give To The Neal & Shirley Amundson Chair in Chemical Engineering & Material Science

Created in 2001, the Amundson Chair conducts innovative research, provides exemplary service to the chemical engineering profession and scientific societies, and contributes to the flow of ideas and talented people in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science.

H. Ted and Kathy A. Davis Faculty Fund in Chemical Engineering and Materials Science

Give To The H. Ted and Kathy A. Davis Faculty Fund in Chemical Engineering and Materials Science

As a tribute to the lasting legacy of Professor H. Ted Davis and in appreciation for the critical inquiry that he inspired in Dr. Dowling and so many other CEMS alumni, Dr. and Mrs. Dowling have established the H. Ted and Kathy A. Davis Faculty Fund in Chemical Engineering and Materials Science. It is the Dow lings' hope that this fund will support and inspire enterprising faculty members in their pursuit of innovative research ideas to address the grand challenges facing the nation and the world now and in the decades to come.

Ted loved teaching, advising and co-advising more than 95 Ph.D. students throughout his career. Often cited for saying that "teaching and research are cut from the same cloth," his leadership, enthusiasm for educating, and his passion for learning were at the core of all he did. His teaching made others realize they could accomplish more than they imagined was possible, inspiring students to think critically and creatively while exploring and mastering ideas beyond the traditional boundaries of chemical engineering. He believed in his students' abilities to rise to intellectual challenges and nurtured them through his leadership in the process of discovery.

Dr. Gary Dowling received his PhD in Chemical Engineering in 1971 from the University of Minnesota under the advisement of Professor H. Ted Davis. Dr. Dowling credits the education he received during his time at the U of M, specifically with Professor Davis, for launching and sustaining his subsequent varied and successful career involving research, engineering and production management, environmental protection, law/litigation, and marine shipping management with ExxonMobil.

William Warren Gerberich Faculty Fund

Give To The William Warren Gerberich Faculty Fund

Professor Emeritus William Warren Gerberich created this fund in 2017. The fund is intended to provide support for a faculty position in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, particularly a recognized expert specializing in the area of materials science, appropriate to mechanical properties of metals, semi-conductors, ceramics, or metallic glasses.

Ray D. & Mary T. Johnson/Mayon Plastics Chair

Give to the Ray D. & Mary T. Johnson/Mayon Plastics Chair

Ray D. Johnson (BChE 1939), President of Mayon Plastics created the Ray D. & Mary T. Johnson/Mayon Plastics Chair in 1989. His personal gift was matched by the Permanent University Fund. The motivation for establishing the Professorship in Chemical Engineering and Materials Science was to attract and develop to a tenured appointment young assistant professors by providing the financial resources in recognition of the potential contributions which they would make in their teaching and research to the field as well as to the Department. The Professorship was an attempt to maintain and expand upon the existing strengths of the Department and to provide an excellent mechanism for retaining and attracting young teachers so that the national recognition of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science can be continually enhanced.

Chris Macosko Professorship for Chemical Engineering & Materials Science

Give to the Chris Macosko Professorship

To assist the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science in recruiting, supporting, and retaining outstanding faculty members.

George T. Piercy Leadership Chair in Chemical Engineering and Materials Science

Give to the George T. Piercy Leadership Chair

Janet Piercy, the wife of the late George T. Piercy, established this Chair in 2001 to support a deserving faculty member in their research and continue the Piercy legacy in the Department.

George T. Piercy Professorship

Give to the George T. Piercy Professorship

Wishing to recognize the benefits he received from the University of Minnesota, George T. Piercy (ChemE ’38) established the Piercy Professorship in Chemical Engineering & Materials Science.

Zsolt Rumy Innovation Chair in Chemical Engineering and Materials Science

Give to the Zsolt Rumy Innovation Chair in Chemical Engineering and Materials Science

Zsolt (ChE '66) and Mary Rumy established this endowed chair to help CEMS continue to foster a culture of curiosity and innovation. The Rumys' wish is for the chairholder to have a focus in the CEMS field, along with ideas that demonstrate potential to achieve commercial success and improve people's lives.

Lanny and Charlotte Schmidt Endowed Chair in Chemical Engineering

Give to the Lanny and Charlotte Schmidt Endowed Chair in Chemical Engineering

Charlotte Schmidt established this fund in memory of her late husband, Regents Professor Lanny Schmidt, in order to recruit, support, and sustain outstanding faculty members in CEMS, especially in the field of chemical engineering.

L. E. Scriven Chair in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science

Give To The L. E. Scriven Chair in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science

Franklin M. Orr, Jr. enjoys a stimulating and rewarding career of teaching and research at Stanford University. His belief in the value of education and his appreciation of the role that Professor L.E. "Skip" Scriven played in preparing him and many other students for successful careers inspired him to establish this chair. It is his hope that future generations will also benefit from the continued combination of a strong faculty, talented students, and commitment to excellence in the Department of Chemical Engineering & Materials Science.

Shell Distinguished Chair in Chemical Engineering

Give To The L. E. Scriven Chair in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science

In recognition of the need for major research support in our nation's leading research universities, the Shell Foundation established in 1986 the Shell Distinguished Chair, matched by the Permanent University Fund. The purpose of the program is to give the chair holders the opportunity to proceed with freedom on a promising line of investigation without the delay or interruption due to lack of outside research support. The Chair may also enable the holder to pursue an initiative or speculative direction particularly in basic research or where the prospects for immediate support are minimal. It is intended that the Chair ultimately will have the impact of strengthening and advancing the fields of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science.

Strategic Initiatives

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Please consider making a gift in support of the following Strategic Initiatives funds. To learn about additional giving opportunities, please contact Courtney Billing.

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Aris Endowment Fund

Give To The Aris Endowment Fund

The Aris Endowment Fund supports the Aris Lecture Series which began in 1964 to support a continuing lecture series for faculty, graduate students and undergraduate students focusing on the common bond between science and the arts. The series arose from the scholarship of Professor Rutherford Aris, who was interested in both chemical engineering and paleography. Since inception funds have grown exponentially, creating additional funds which support graduate student fellowships in Professor Aris's name.

Phyllis B. Branin Excellence in Service Award

Give to the Phyllis B. Branin Excellence in Service Award

Phyllis B. Branin (BChE 1947) directed that an Endowment she established in 1999 be used to recognize an outstanding member of the professional staff who demonstrates an exceptional interest, commitment, and ability to meet performance objectives while setting an example of excellence in service for others.

Chemical Engineering and Materials Science Fund for Excellence

Give To The Chemical Engineering and Materials Science Fund for Excellence

The CEMS Fund for Excellence provides the flexible support the department needs to continuously and dynamically improve its teaching, research, and operations by helping it attract, retain, and support excellent students and faculty and build a spirit of cooperative innovation among CEMS faculty, staff, and students. Funds are used for the betterment of the department at the discretion of its Head.

Coating Process Research Fund

Give to the Coating Process Research Fund

The Coating Process Research Fund was established by the Nito Denko Corporation to support research in coating process fundamentals, especially capabilities of scientific visualization on microscales and nanoscales.

Fostering Entrepreneurship in CEMS Fund

Give To The Fostering Entrepreneurship in CEMS Fund

Navjot Singh (PhD ChE '94) and his wife, Nithya, established this fund to broadly foster entrepreneurship activities within CEMS, including the support of guest lecturers, entrepreneurs in residence, and seed funding for student projects.

Arnie Fredrickson Symposium Fund

Give To The Fredrickson Symposium Fund

This fund was established in 2001 to honor Professor Emeritus Arnold (Arnie) Fredrickson upon his retirement and foster broader intellectual interaction between undergraduate and graduate students in the department. CEMS alumni and other friends of the department are encouraged to support this fund.