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Leadership-Development Awards Summary

Development Awards

In 1988, the foundation established the Development Awards program as the first in a series of initiatives to create and enhance educational programs in biomedical engineering.

Awards of up to $5 million were made to help establish major centers of excellence in biomedical engineering education.

To qualify for funding, applicants must have already had in place formal research training opportunities for engineering students. Applicant institutions that lacked a biomedical engineering department were encouraged to create one.

Development Awards were expected to have a national impact on the field and required that applicant institutions make a substantial commitment to the supported program. Supported institutions were able to enhance or establish a department or degree-granting program, support new faculty, acquire new research and teaching space, and recruit students.

The foundation made 19 Development Awards totaling more than $74 million.

Leadership Awards

In 1996, the foundation announced its second major initiative for improving biomedical engineering education, the Leadership Awards. The program set no limit on the amount of funding available for each grant, but asked that requests be reasonable and required that applicant institutions match the requested amount at least dollar for dollar.

The foundation made Leadership Awards to a few selected institutions that had already attained national stature and presented exciting and convincing plans to solidify and further enhance their leadership positions.

Three awards were made totaling $49 million.

Leadership-Development and Special Awards

In 1999, the Leadership Awards and Development Awards programs merged, resulting in a series of Leadership-Development Awards to support both programs and facilities. Special Awards were also made primarily for major building construction.

These infrastructure grants stimulated the creation of new departments and programs across the United States and supported the construction of permanent facilities for biomedical engineering. Faculty were hired, students recruited, and curricula developed.

The foundation's infrastructure grants were made during a decade in which the number of academic departments in biomedical engineeing more than doubled, from 42 to more than 100. Twenty-seven institutions received major support from The Whitaker Foundation.

Three Leadership-Development awards were made totaling $42 million. The foundation made 11 Special Awards for building construction and renovation.

Institutions supported by these programs:

Leadership Awards:
     Boston University
     Johns Hopkins University
     University of California, San Diego

Leadership-Development Awards:
     Georgia Tech
     University of California, Davis
     University of Pennsylvania

Development Awards:
     Arizona State University
     Case Western Reserve University
     Columbia University
     Georgia Tech
     Johns Hopkins University
     Massachusetts General Hospital
     Massachusetts Institute of Technology
     Rice University
     State University of New York at Stony Brook
     University of California, Irvine
     University of California, San Diego
     Universtiy of Michigan
     University of Pittsburgh
     University of Rochester
     University of Texas at Austin
     University of Utah
     University of Virginia
     University of Washington
     Washington University

Special Awards (Building Construction/Renovation):
     Columbia University
     Pennsylvania State University
     Purdue University
     Rice University
     Rutgers University
     University of California, Berkeley
     University of Michigan
     University of Rochester
     University of Virginia
     University of Texas, Austin
     University of Washington
     Washington University

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