Yale University has signed a letter of intent to receive a series of gifts from the John B. Pierce Laboratory and Foundation expected to total $20 million over 24 months. The gifts will support Pierce’s mission to advance educational, technical or scientific work in multiple fields.
““We are grateful to the John B. Pierce Laboratory and Foundation for these generous gifts and are honored to advance Yale’s research and teaching in areas that closely align with Pierce’s history and mission,” said Michael Crair, Yale’s vice chancellor for research. “We expect that the professorships and graduate student fellowships created by these gifts will significantly advance scholarship in a range of scientific disciplines that honor the legacy of John B. Pierce.”
Pierce’s lab and foundation have been formally affiliated with Yale for nearly 60 years. With his gifts to Yale, Pierce plans to discontinue his own lab research activities and foundation activities in 2025. He expects his gifts will increase the productivity of scientific research and strengthen the impact of Pierce’s assets.
In its announcement, the John B. Pierce Foundation said the gifts will permanently fund four to five Yale professorships, as well as several graduate fellowships. New Pierce Professorships and Graduate Fellowships will be distributed among the following Yale schools: School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, School of the Environment, School of Medicine, School of Public Health, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and/or School of Architecture. Each new position will bear the John B. Pierce name, and the new Pierce Professorships will engage in research and teaching in areas that are the modern descendants of the academic fields that John B. Pierce founded over a century ago.
“As 100th “As the Pierce Foundation’s anniversary approaches, our board and management team have been evaluating various strategic options to best position Pierce’s resources to sustain and fulfill its mission over the long term,” said Margaret Penny Mason, president of the JB Pierce Foundation and the John B. Pierce Laboratory, Inc. “This proposed transaction with Yale provides the scale, stability and structure to ensure that Pierce’s mission is fulfilled in perpetuity.”
