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The Mathematical Sciences: A Report (1968)

Chapter: 12 Private Foundations

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Suggested Citation:"12 Private Foundations." National Research Council. 1968. The Mathematical Sciences: A Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9549.
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Page 187
Suggested Citation:"12 Private Foundations." National Research Council. 1968. The Mathematical Sciences: A Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9549.
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Page 188
Suggested Citation:"12 Private Foundations." National Research Council. 1968. The Mathematical Sciences: A Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9549.
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Page 189

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_ rip Private Founciations Private foundations play a special role in the support of research and teaching in the sciences. It is generally their aim to seek out innovative activities and modes of support rather than to contribute toward the kinds of support already being provided by federal or other agencies. Where the mathematical sciences have participated in the grants of private foundations it has usually been as a feature of projects to strengthen research and teaching in the sciences generally or to enhance the scientific capabilities of some institution. Also, in grants made by private foundations for other purposes, the mathe- matical sciences have appeared as tools, as, for instance, in the con- struction of mathematical models as one of the activities supported under grants in economics. It is thus difficult to separate out the mathematical-science portion of support by private foundations, and any attempt to do so must be somewhat arbitrary. Here attention is focused on grants or portions of grants by private foundations made to aid or encourage work "by mathe- maticians in a mathematical setting," including work in both pure and applied mathematics but attempting to exclude mathematical activities incidental to projects in other fields. GRANTS BY PRIVATE FOUNDATIONS Over the period 1955-1966 the seven private foundations most heavily concerned made grants in the mathematical sciences total ~7

188 Level and Forms of Support TABLE 19 Grant Support of the Mathematical Sciences by Private Foundations from 1955 through 1966 FOUNDATION TOTAL 1955 - 1966 ($ MILLIONS) Carnegie Corporation of New York Ford Foundation John Simon Guggenheim Foundation Louis W. and Maud Hill Family Foundation Research Corporation Rockefeller Foundation Alfred P. Sloan Foundation 3.2 3.3 0.4 0.6 0.2 1.1 0.4 19.2 ing some $19.2 million, as shown in Table 19. This would indicate that the total annual contribution of grants by private foundations toward research and higher education in the mathematical sciences has averaged somewhat under $2 million in recent years. The purposes for which these grants were made have included the formation of new mathematical centers (including the construction of buildings), strengthening of existing departments, research fellowships, special research support for younger mathematicians, strengthening of ties between pure and applied mathematics, stimu- lation of the use of computers, establishment of regional centers of learning, and a variety of other activities to improve curricula and teaching in the mathematical sciences. More details are given in Appendix C. COMMENTS We applaud the unique pioneering efforts of the private founda- tions in support of research and education in the mathematical sciences and feel that these foundations can hardly do better than to continue to seek out for support new activities and those that deserve more support than they are receiving from other sources. Specific kinds of projects that our panels have commended to the attention of private foundations for possible support include the following: selected new programs for the continuing education of college faculty; new and experimental systems of publication and

Private Foundations ~9 communication; new graduate-level curriculum studies by the Com- mittee on the Undergraduate Program in Mathematics; studies evaluating present programs of degrees intermediate between the MA and the PhD, and gauging their acceptance by academic ad- ministrators and accrediting agencies; physical facilities (such as needed once space or departmental libraries or common rooms) not otherwise available; programs for graduate education or retraining directed toward the special problems and needs of women mathe- maticians; experimental regional centers for curriculum and course development; special studies of the problems of the underdeveloped colleges.

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