The Impact on Students

Making a name in astrophysics

Naomi McClure-Griffiths, whose research was supported by a fellowship, recently completed her Ph.D. in astronomy and was named one of four newly minted Ph.D.'s to have won the 2003 U of M Best Dissertion award. Naomi had already been making a name for herself in astrophysics. As part of an international effort to map the inner Milky Way, using the most advanced radio telescopes, the NASA fellow has personally discovered 17 huge gas bubbles in our home galaxy.

"We're learning that the Milky Way is a lot like Swiss cheese," she says of the bubbles, which are thousands of light-years in diameter. Of the mapping project, McClure-Griffith's advisor, U astronomy professor John Dickey, says, "Doing a survey like this is like being the first person to sail around the world. It's a voyage of discovery. And it helps us learn more about how everything in the universe fits together."

Learn how gifts like yours impact faculty, research and outreach at the U.

Faculty: Endowed faculty positions increase the U's ability to attract top students and recruit and retain world-class faculty.

Research: For the first time, University of Minnesota researchers have secured over half a billion dollars in research funding in a single year.

Outreach: University Libraries lends more books to other libraries than any other academic library in the nation. That mission has been assisted through the generosity of private support.