PASADENA, Calif.-The Rose Hills Foundation of Los Angeles has awarded $315,000 to the California Institute of Technology to fund scholarships for the current and coming academic years. The scholarships will be awarded to juniors and seniors from the San Gabriel Valley who are majoring in the life sciences, natural sciences, or engineering.
Of the entire grant, $105,000 will be divided equally among junior and senior recipients for this year's educational expenditures, with the remaining $210,000 to be distributed among next year's junior and senior recipients.
The new scholarships for Caltech students are in keeping with the foundation's goals of providing a measurable impact on area residents by giving preferential attention to organizations with a history of achievement, good management, and a stable financial condition. In addition, the foundation seeks out programs that are self-sustaining, which can be expected to have a significant effect, where the gift is matched or multiplied, and which reach the greatest number of people at the most reasonable cost. The Rose Hills Foundation was established in 1996 following the sale of Rose Hills Memorial Park in Whittier.
Founded in 1891, Caltech has an enrollment of some 2,000 students, and a faculty of about 280 professorial members, 65 research members, and some 560 postdoctoral scholars. The Institute has more than 21,000 alumni. Caltech employs a staff of more than 2,600 on campus and 5,300 at JPL.
Over the years, 31 Nobel Prizes and four Crafoord Prizes have been awarded to faculty members and alumni. Forty-seven Caltech faculty members and alumni have received the National Medal of Science; and nine alumni (two of whom are also trustees; and one is also a faculty member), two additional trustees, and one faculty member have won the National Medal of Technology. Since 1958, 14 faculty members have received the annual California Scientist of the Year award. On the Caltech faculty there are 77 fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; and on the faculty and Board of Trustees, 70 members of the National Academy of Sciences, 43 members of the National Academy of Engineering, and three members of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies.
Written by Robert Tindol