The W. M. Keck Foundation is an American charitable foundation supporting scientific, engineering, and medical research in the United States. It was founded in 1954 by William Myron Keck, founder and president of

Superior Oil Company Superior Oil Company was an American oil company founded in 1921 in Coalinga, California, by William Myron Keck, Superior Oil began as a drilling contracting firm and grew into the exploration and production of oil and natural gas. In 1930 the com ...

(now part of

ExxonMobil ExxonMobil Corporation (commonly shortened to Exxon) is an American multinational oil and gas corporation headquartered in Irving, Texas. It is the largest direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, and was formed on November 30, ...

). 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 William Myron Keck. From 1964 to 1995, it was led by W. M. Keck's son, Howard B. Keck. Robert Addison Day, 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 science and engineering, medical research, liberal arts, in Southern California. 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 Chapman University is a private research university in Orange, California. It encompasses ten schools and colleges, including Fowler School of Engineering, Dodge College of Film and Media Arts, Fowler School of Law, and Schmid College of Scie ...

, $21 million * The W. M. Keck Center for Language Study at

Colgate University Colgate University is a private liberal arts college in Hamilton, New York. The college was founded in 1819 as the Baptist Education Society of the State of New York and operated under that name until 1823, when it was renamed Hamilton Theologi ...

* The Keck Center for International and Strategic Studies of

Claremont McKenna College Claremont McKenna College (CMC) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Claremont, California. It has a curricular emphasis on government, economics, public affairs, finance, and internat ...

(the alma mater of Robert Addison Day, William Myron Keck's grandson, and chairman and president of W. M. Keck Foundation) * The W.M. Keck Science Department of

Pitzer College Pitzer College is a private liberal arts college in Claremont, California. One of the Claremont Colleges, the college has a curricular emphasis on the social sciences, behavioral sciences, international programs, and media studies. Pitzer is k ...

, and

Scripps College Scripps College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Claremont, California. It was founded as a member of the Claremont Colleges in 1 ...

. * The W.M. Keck Center for Interdisciplinary Bioscience Training at Rice University in Houston, Texas (training arm of the Gulf Coast Consortia (GCC)) * Support for building of the Keck Observatory at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington * 1985, 1991: Construction of the W. M. Keck Observatory at Mauna Kea Observatory in Hawaii, Keck I, Keck II, about $70 million for each *

Keck Institute for Space Studies The Keck Institute for Space Studies (KISS) is a joint institute of the California Institute of Technology and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory established in January 2008 with a $24 million grant from the W. M. Keck Foundation. It is a privately fu ...

, established in 2008, a joint institute of the California Institute of Technology and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory * 1999: Expansion of the

Keck School of Medicine The Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California teaches and trains physicians, biomedical scientists and other healthcare professionals, conducts medical research, and treats patients. Founded in 1885, it is the second oldest ...

at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California, $110 million * The W.M. Keck Building Center for fMRI & the W.M. Keck Foundation Center for Ocean-Atmosphere Research at the University of California, San Diego * Creation of the Keck Graduate Institute of Applied Life Sciences in

Claremont, California Claremont () is a suburban city on the eastern edge of Los Angeles County, California, United States, east of downtown Los Angeles. It is in the Pomona Valley, at the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. As of the 2010 census it had a popul ...

* Sponsor of the Keck Computer Science Lab at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California * The W.M. Keck Center for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry at University of California, Irvine * The WM Keck Center for 3D Innovation at University of Texas at El Paso * The William M. Keck Building at the California Institute of Technology * The Peter G. Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington D.C. *The Keck Science Center at Pepperdine University * The Keck Array, part of the

BICEP The biceps or biceps brachii ( la, musculus biceps brachii, "two-headed muscle of the arm") is a large muscle that lies on the front of the upper arm between the shoulder and the elbow. Both heads of the muscle arise on the scapula and join t ...

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, whose renovation the foundation funded, at the University of Nevada, Reno The Keck Foundation has been a long-time supporter of public television in Southern California, including underwriting the broadcast of Sesame Street on

KCET KCET (channel 28) is a secondary PBS member television station in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is owned by the Public Media Group of Southern California alongside the market's primary PBS member, Huntington Beach–licensed KOCE-TV ...

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'', 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