The W. M. Keck Foundation is an American

charitable foundation A foundation (also a charitable foundation) is a category of nonprofit organization or charitable trust that typically provides funding and support for other charitable organizations through grants, but may also engage directly in charitable act ...

supporting

scientific Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad range of more speciali ...

, and

medical Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care practic ...

research in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. It was founded in 1954 by

William Myron Keck William Myron Keck (April 27, 1880 – August 20, 1964) was an American oil entrepreneur and philanthropist. Founder of Superior Oil Company, author Kevin Krajick has described Keck as "the world's greatest oil prospector, a man whose insti ...

, founder and president of Superior Oil Company (now part of ExxonMobil). The Foundation's net assets exceeded $1.3 billion at the end of 2019.

Overview

From its founding until his death in 1964, the Foundation was led by

. From 1964 to 1995, it was led by W. M. Keck's son,

Howard B. Keck Howard Brighton Keck (September 20, 1913 – December 14, 1996) was an American businessman. He was also a Thoroughbred horse racing, racehorse owner and breeder, and the owner of an auto racing team that twice won the Indianapolis 500. Early ...

Robert Addison Day Robert Addison Day is an American business executive and philanthropist. He was the founder and former chairman and chief executive officer of Trust Company of the West until 2009. He is the chairman and president of the W. M. Keck Foundation. Ear ...

, W. M. Keck's grandson has been chairman and president since 1996. The Foundation provides grants in five broad areas: science and engineering research,

undergraduate Undergraduate education is education conducted after secondary education and before postgraduate education. It typically includes all postsecondary programs up to the level of a bachelor's degree. For example, in the United States, an entry-le ...

science and engineering, medical research,

liberal arts Liberal arts education (from Latin "free" and "art or principled practice") is the traditional academic course in Western higher education. ''Liberal arts'' takes the term '' art'' in the sense of a learned skill rather than specifically th ...

, in

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban a ...

. Some of the more notable projects that have received funding from the Keck Foundation include: * 2017: The Keck Center for Science and Engineering, at Chapman University, $21 million * The W. M. Keck Center for Language Study at Colgate University * The Keck Center for International and Strategic Studies of Claremont McKenna College (the alma mater of

's grandson, and chairman and president of W. M. Keck Foundation) * The W.M. Keck Science Department of Claremont McKenna College, Pitzer College, and Scripps College. * The W.M. Keck Center for Interdisciplinary Bioscience Training at

Rice University William Marsh Rice University (Rice University) is a private research university in Houston, Texas. It is on a 300-acre campus near the Houston Museum District and adjacent to the Texas Medical Center. Rice is ranked among the top universities ...

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

(training arm of the Gulf Coast Consortia (GCC)) * Support for building of the Keck Observatory at

Pacific Lutheran University Pacific Lutheran University (PLU) is a private Lutheran university in Parkland, Washington. It was founded by Norwegian Lutheran immigrants in 1890. PLU is sponsored by the 580 congregations of Region I of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Ame ...

Tacoma, Washington Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and northwest of Mount Rainier National Pa ...

* 1985, 1991: Construction of the

W. M. Keck Observatory The W. M. Keck Observatory is an astronomical observatory with two telescopes at an elevation of 4,145 meters (13,600 ft) near the summit of Mauna Kea in the U.S. state of Hawaii. Both telescopes have aperture primary mirrors, and when comp ...

Mauna Kea Observatory The Mauna Kea Observatories (MKO) are a group of independent astronomical research facilities and large telescope observatories that are located at the summit of Mauna Kea on the Big Island of Hawaiʻi, United States. The facilities are locate ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...

, Keck I, Keck II, about $70 million for each * Keck Institute for Space Studies, established in 2008, a joint institute of the

California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...

and the

Jet Propulsion Laboratory The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is a federally funded research and development center and NASA field center in the City of La Cañada Flintridge, California, United States. Founded in the 1930s by Caltech researchers, JPL is owned by NASA an ...

* 1999: Expansion of the Keck School of Medicine at the

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, $110 million * The W.M. Keck Building Center for

fMRI Functional magnetic resonance imaging or functional MRI (fMRI) measures brain activity by detecting changes associated with blood flow. This technique relies on the fact that cerebral blood flow and neuronal activation are coupled. When an area ...

& the W.M. Keck Foundation Center for Ocean-Atmosphere Research at the

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego is t ...

* Creation of the

Keck Graduate Institute of Applied Life Sciences Keck Graduate Institute (KGI) is a private graduate school in Claremont, California. Founded by Henry Riggs in 1997, it is the seventh and newest member of the Claremont Colleges. History Henry Riggs, then president of Harvey Mudd College, ...

in Claremont, California * Sponsor of the Keck Computer Science Lab at

Loyola Marymount University Loyola Marymount University (LMU) is a private Jesuit and Marymount research university in Los Angeles, California. It is located on the west side of the city near Playa Vista. LMU is the parent school to Loyola Law School, which is located ...

* The W.M. Keck Center for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry at

University of California, Irvine The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a public land-grant research university in Irvine, California. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, UCI offers 87 undergraduate degrees and 129 graduate and p ...

* The WM Keck Center for 3D Innovation at

University of Texas at El Paso The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is a public research university in El Paso, Texas. It is a member of the University of Texas System. UTEP is the second-largest university in the United States to have a majority Mexican American stud ...

* The William M. Keck Building at the

* The Peter G. Peterson Institute for International Economics in

Washington D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...

*The Keck Science Center at

Pepperdine University Pepperdine University () is a private research university affiliated with the Churches of Christ with its main campus in Los Angeles County, California. Pepperdine's main campus consists of 830 acres (340 ha) overlooking the Pacific Ocean and th ...

* The

Keck Array BICEP (Background Imaging of Cosmic Extragalactic Polarization) and the Keck Array are a series of cosmic microwave background (CMB) experiments. They aim to measure the polarization of the CMB; in particular, measuring the ''B''-mode of the CM ...

, part of the BICEP experiment (Background Imaging of Cosmic Extragalactic Polarization) at the South Pole observatory. * W.M.Keck Earth Science and Metal Engineering Museum at the

Mackay School of Earth Sciences and Engineering The Mackay School of Earth Sciences and Engineering (formerly Mackay School of Mines) is a specialized school within the University of Nevada, Reno. It is named after John Mackay, father of Clarence Mackay. Programs and facilities Part of the Col ...

, whose renovation the foundation funded, at the

University of Nevada, Reno The University of Nevada, Reno (Nevada, the University of Nevada, or UNR) is a public land-grant research university in Reno, Nevada. It is the state's flagship public university and primary land grant institution. It was founded on October 12 ...

The Keck Foundation has been a long-time supporter of

public television Public broadcasting involves radio, television and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service. Public broadcasters receive funding from diverse sources including license fees, individual contributions, public financing ...

, including underwriting the broadcast of

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000) ...

on KCET since the 1970s.

Funding

The foundation has a maximum grant of $5 million, though funding is typically $2 million or less. The W. M. Keck foundation has these requirements for funding: * Research that is high impact and that questions or challenges the prevailing paradigm * Research projects that no one else is pursuing * A new research project that is in its early stages * ''

Basic research Basic research, also called pure research or fundamental research, is a type of scientific research with the aim of improving scientific theories for better understanding and prediction of natural or other phenomena. In contrast, applied rese ...

'', not translational or clinical research *Research that would result in general information and new methodologies that can be of benefit to the field, even if the project were to go awry *Research projects that are not funded by any other foundation, and research projects that could not move along without Keck funding *Though this is not a requirement, the W.M. Keck Foundation prefers projects that involve some kind of collaboration over single investigator research

References

External links

*
The Keck Center for International and Strategic Studies at Claremont McKenna College

The W.M. Keck Center for Interdisciplinary Bioscience Training
{{Authority control Keck, W. M., Foundation Organizations established in 1954 Charities based in California

Overview

Funding

See also

References

External links