Liang Hao and Miguel Jimenez, assistant professors of biomedical engineering, receive Rainin Foundation Innovator Award
The $200,000 award will support the creation of a microbial therapy to combat common inflammatory bowel diseases.
The Boston University Foundation Relations team, within the Office of Advancement, helps faculty identify, apply for, secure, and steward charitable gifts and grants from private philanthropic foundations and nongovernmental organizations. We match faculty research and programs with foundations’ priorities, which are often to support pilot projects and high-risk research that may not be attractive to traditional funders such as NIH and NSF. Additional details about how we work can be found in this overview.
“Without the help of Foundation Relations, none of these projects would have happened. They tirelessly sought out funding opportunities. Once a grant was secured, they made it their personal mission to make sure that we kept in good standing with the foundation and continued to receive funding year after year.”
—Casey Taft, PhD, Professor, Psychiatry
Hundreds of foundation programs are focused on early-career faculty. Their funding can be highly beneficial, helping to seed a new project, confirm proof of concept, or generate pilot data. In contrast to federal funders, private funders are more willing to support high-risk, high-reward projects.
foundation support to BU in FY24
proposals and LOIs the Foundation Relations team helped faculty submit in FY24
“Meet the Funder” events organized by the Foundation Relations team over past three years
Numerous faculty members from across the University receive foundation support. Here are a few recent examples.
The $200,000 award will support the creation of a microbial therapy to combat common inflammatory bowel diseases.
For Rachel Nolan, assistant professor of international history, the fellowship will support training in the Indigenous languages spoken by some deportees and in the complex legal landscape impacting asylum seekers.
Dr. Stokes's project is among seven GLP-1 studies selected for funding by the American Heart Association, and will investigate whether GLP-1 use reduces heart problems, particularly in communities facing health disparities.
The project, led by researchers at Cambridge University, includes a plan by the Younger Lab to map mosquito brains with a goal of understanding how they select their prey.
The project, an international study leveraging over 25 researchers, will investigate how children's beliefs are formed and changed.
Membership reflects outstanding achievements in the compelling and vivid presentation of history. Dr. Williams works on African and African American diasporic intellectual history.
The grant will support Dr. Copeland's work on her forthcoming book, which offers a new approach to biblical interpretation through an agricultural and ecological lens.