Skaggs Family Gives $2 Million for New TSRI Graduate Program Endowment

The Skaggs family has given a new $2 million gift to support exceptional students in The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) graduate program.

“I would like to thank members of the Skaggs family for their remarkable generosity, which has had a transformative effect on this institution,” said TSRI CEO Peter Schultz. “This new endowment, which brings the family’s total gifts to TSRI to approximately $131 million, will help us continue to recruit the best students for advanced training at the intersection of biology and chemistry. In so doing, the gift also benefits our faculty, whose research programs will be enhanced by the efforts of these outstanding fellows.”

The new gift was made through the Skaggs family’s foundation, The ALSAM Foundation.

“I am delighted that members of the ALSAM grants committee, including TSRI Trustees Claudia Skaggs Luttrell and Mark Skaggs, have chosen to support the training of the next generation of scientists who will forge new ground in medicine and drug discovery,” said TSRI President Steve Kay. “I would like to express my deep appreciation for this support.”

Luttrell added, "At the ALSAM Foundation, we carry on the legacy of my parents’ belief in the importance of education and medical research for the betterment of humankind. We hope this gift will fulfill this philosophy by training the next generation of scientists, while contributing to the scientific knowledge that underpins new therapeutic discoveries.”

Beginning this fall, one exceptional member of the entering class will be selected by the TSRI admissions committee to be designated as a Skaggs Fellow.

The Skaggs Fellow’s first-year stipend will be paid from the new endowment funds. In addition, in subsequent years of study, the student will receive a research supplement of up to $5,000.

For more information on TSRI’s graduate program, which is consistently ranked among the top 10 in the nation in its fields of chemistry and biology, see the Education web pages.

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