Princeton Weekly Bulletin April 5, 1999
Evnin gift endows professorship
Trustee Anthony Evnin '62 has made a $2.5 million gift to endow the Evnin Professorship in Genomics.
The Anthony B. Evnin '62 chair is the first to be created for the new Institute for Genomic Analysis, which will take a multidisciplinary approach to examining how genes control the activities of living organisms.
"With this generous gift, Tony Evnin has significantly advanced our efforts to establish a broad-based new institute that will explore many of the most challenging and fundamental questions of life science," said President Shapiro. "He has been a great friend to Princeton for many years, and we are grateful for his leadership, his foresight and his continuing support."
Exciting scientific frontier
Research at the Institute for Genomic Analysis will focus on translating the expanding wealth of information on genetic sequences into important discoveries about nature and biology. Under the direction of Shirley Tilghman, Howard A. Prior Professor in the Life Sciences, it will bring together experts not only in molecular biology but also in fields such as physics, chemistry, computer science and engineering -- disciplines with powerful analytic tools for manipulating large data sets and managing complexity.
"Genomics is one of today's most exciting scientific frontiers," said Evnin, who serves on the advisory boards of both the Molecular Biology Department and the Council on Science and Technology. "I think that with Princeton's broad strengths across the biological and physical sciences, and in engineering, it is very valuable and appropriate for the University to create an institute involving so many different disciplines. I have the greatest regard for Dr. Tilghman, and I know that under her guidance Princeton will have a research center that will make significant contributions to this field and to the education of future generations of students at Princeton."
Evnin is a general partner of Venrock Associates of New York, a venture capital partnership that specializes in information technology and life science investments. He also serves as a director of the Princeton University Investment Co., which manages the University's $4.8 billion endowment.
Evnin majored in chemistry at Princeton and earned his PhD at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He served as a University trustee from 1987 to 1991 and was named to a 10-year term as a charter trustee in 1997. In 1991 he established a lecture series at Princeton on science and technology topics. His most recent gift is part of the Anniversary Campaign for Princeton, which has now raised more than $723 million toward its $900 million goal.