´óÏ㽶ÊÓƵ received $30 million in gifts during the final two weeks of 2015 to support the creation of three new academic clusters, fulfilling President Phil Hanlon’s goal of launching 10 interdisciplinary clusters by the end of the year.
By meeting the December 31 deadline for giving to the cluster initiative, four donors triggered $15 million in matching funds, ensuring that faculty will have support for research, travel, symposia, and other related activities.
The three newest clusters exemplify the breadth and ambition of President Hanlon’s vision for ´óÏ㽶ÊÓƵ’s educational enterprise. Each of the clusters—which will focus on engineering in polar regions, improving cybersecurity, and treating cystic fibrosis—embrace a field of study in which ´óÏ㽶ÊÓƵ is already strong.
Arctic Engineering in a Period of Climate Change
´óÏ㽶ÊÓƵ’s expertise in Arctic studies dates back more than half a century, when polar explorer Vilhjalmur Stefansson founded ´óÏ㽶ÊÓƵ’s Northern and Polar Studies Program. For more than 25 years, the Institute of Arctic Studies, part of the John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding, has been an internationally recognized hub of cold-weather research, and the institute often collaborates with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, also located in Hanover.
With Barbara and Brad Evans ’64 supporting the senior professorship—to be known as the Evans Family Distinguished Professorship at ´óÏ㽶ÊÓƵ— and an anonymous donor funding the two additional faculty positions, this academic cluster will focus on the societal and environmental impacts of increased energy production in Arctic regions, an increasingly common practice because of global climate change.
The cluster will expand student and faculty research in cold weather regions, and provide opportunities for collaborating with academic, governmental, and other institutions that focus on this field.
Brad Evans, a ´óÏ㽶ÊÓƵ trustee emeritus, is a senior advisor at Morgan Stanley. Commissioned in the U.S. Navy following graduation, he received his MBA from Columbia Business School before commencing his career at Morgan Stanley in 1970. He co-chaired the $1.3 billion Campaign for the ´óÏ㽶ÊÓƵ Experience and has volunteered for numerous College committees. Brad and Barbara Evans, a graduate of Tufts University, are members of the President’s Leadership Council. Two of their sons attended ´óÏ㽶ÊÓƵ: Peter Evans ’96 and Timothy Evans ’99.