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A new study commissioned by the Heckscher Foundation and conducted by Sage Education documents significant gains in college persistence as a result of a student emergency grants program and contains insights to help others implement similar programs. The State University of New York (SUNY) Student Emergency Fund program, established by the Heckscher Foundation and Gerstner Philanthropies, aimed to increase the likelihood that underserved students would succeed and persist in college by providing one-time financial aid in response to emergency, such as medical crises, natural disasters, domestic violence, theft or loss of employment. The program tracked these outcomes and demonstrated that Student Emergency Fund recipients showed substantially higher achievement rates than the general campus populations. Since 2018, of the nearly 2,000 students across the six campuses who received the grants — which by design could not be used to pay tuition — 94% were still enrolled in college, or had successfully graduated or completed their program of study, in the semester immediately following receipt of their award. Nationally, and at the SUNY campuses overall, the rate is 76%.

This week, members of the Gerstner Philanthropies team had the exciting opportunity to take a first look at the new Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation at the American Museum of Natural History. The Gilder Center, which opens February 17, 2023, will feature new exhibition galleries, state-of-the-art classrooms, an immersive theater, and a redesigned library, increasing public access to more of the Museum’s scientific collections and will link 10 Museum buildings to improve visitor flow throughout the campus. Our Chairman, Louis V. Gerstner, Jr., and Executive Director Kara Klein met with Museum President Ellen Futter to receive an update on the expansion’s progress and to tour the site, getting a firsthand look at the extensive work that has been done. The new center will house the Louis V. Gerstner, Jr. Collections Core. A collection of nearly 4 million specimens ranging from insects to fossils as well as a floor to ceiling exhibition of these samples. In addition to showcasing these new collections, the Gerstner Collections Core aims to help visitors understand how scientists can use these artifacts to learn something more about the universe, life on Earth, or even ourselves. Read more about the collections core at amnh.org

Paige Arnold, who will graduate from the Gerstner Sloan Kettering Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (GSK) next spring, has been awarded the 2022 Chairman’s Prize. The competitive award is presented annually and was established by GSK’s Board of Trustees Chair Emeritus Louis V. Gerstner, Jr., for whom the school is named. This year’s Chairman’s Prize, in the amount of $2,000, honors Arnold’s research, which she conducted in the laboratory of Lydia Finley, Assistant Professor of Biology at the Sloan Kettering Institute (SKI). The Finley Lab studies how metabolic pathways regulate stem cells and cancer cells. Arnold’s work focuses on the characterization of a novel, alternative tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle that is a major driver of the metabolic diversity observed across mammalian cells. Her research sought to understand how this metabolic diversity is achieved, and whether it is important for the establishment of cell identity.

Gerstner Philanthropies has awarded the Diocese of Palm Beach a grant of $1.68 million over the next seven years to continue the Louis V. Gerstner, Jr. Distinguished Scholars Program at the three diocesan high schools: Cardinal Newman High School (West Palm Beach), John Carroll High School (Fort Pierce) and St. John Paul II Academy (Boca Raton). Bishop Gerald M. Barbarito expressed his appreciation for the gift by saying, “The Diocese of Palm Beach is grateful to Mr. Lou Gerstner and the Gerstner Family Foundation for their continued support of academic excellence in our three Catholic high schools. These scholarships assist families with outstanding students, who have financial need, to be able to attend our Catholic high schools. I know that these families appreciate this wonderful opportunity offered to their children.”

Memorial Sloan Kettering announced their first cohort of the Louis V. Gerstner Jr. Physician Scholars Program on Monday. In 2021, the Louis V. Gerstner, Jr. Physician Scholars Program was established at MSK to support the translational science initiatives of talented early-career physician-scientists across multiple specialties. Mr. Gerstner’s generosity and continued dedication to the education and training of future leaders in cancer care make this farsighted opportunity possible. Through this highly competitive program, top-tier physician-scientists will be provided with a level of support that is otherwise difficult to obtain this early in their careers. The scope of innovation and excellence achieved at MSK depends on the work of a diverse scientific and clinical community of investigators, including these four promising physician-scientists, who were carefully selected for the inaugural class of Gerstner Physician Scholars: Susan De Wolf, MD, Juan Osorio, MD, Samir Zaidi, MD, PhD and Morgan Freret, MD, PhD.