Investing in the Faculty Who Shape Rice
By Sophie Kidd
A $20 million commitment has sparked a community-wide investment in the faculty who will help shape the university’s future.
Ignite: Faculty Advancement Matching Gift Fund was created by an anonymous donor couple to help advance that vision. They committed $20 million to match gifts dollar for dollar for new endowed faculty positions, giving donors across the Rice community an opportunity to make a lasting investment in faculty.
Ignite comes at an important moment for Rice. In Momentous, Rice’s strategic plan, the university has set an ambitious vision for the next decade, including a commitment to strengthen its faculty by growing the ranks of scholars, attracting leading researchers and increasing the number of endowed chairs and professorships across disciplines.
Through a comprehensive network of programs and resources, Sallyport Fellows will receive support before arriving on campus and throughout their time at Rice. The story behind the initiative is equally compelling: a philanthropic vision shaped by personal experience, university leaders committed to student success and an ambitious research agenda designed to understand what works and why.
Strengthening the Faculty That Shaped Him
Huipin Zhang ’00
For donors like Huipin Zhang ’00, the appeal of Ignite went beyond the opportunity to double a gift. It offered a chance to think more expansively about what a single investment could mean for Rice.
Huipin, who received his Ph.D. from Rice, established the Gong-Tao Yan Endowed Professorship in Engineering, with a preference for computer science and electrical and computer engineering, particularly computer systems — an area closely connected to his own education and career in technology.
“The Ignite match was an important factor in my decision. It made the gift more impactful by doubling its value, and it encouraged me to think bigger about what this commitment could do for Rice Engineering,” he says.
For Huipin, the gift is rooted in his own experience at Rice and his hopes for the next generation of engineers.
“Rice gave me a strong foundation many years ago, and I hope this professorship will help Rice attract and support outstanding faculty who can advance important research in computing and inspire the next generation of engineers.”
That is the central promise of an endowed faculty position: not simply a title, but a long-term investment in the scholars whose research, teaching and mentorship shape a university.
And the impact of Ignite is now beginning to take shape in the people joining Rice.
Helping Good Ideas Go Further
Dylan Chiu, the first professor hired through the matching fund, brings a perspective that bridges academic research and industry innovation. He joined Rice as the Von Blucher Professor in the Practice of Engineering and Computing Venture Development and associate dean for research translation and venture development, with a charge to help promising research move beyond the lab and toward real-world applications, new technologies and startup companies.
Dylan comes to Rice from Berkeley Frontier Fund, where he served as principal, investing in emerging technologies across artificial intelligence, biotechnology, robotics and computing. Throughout his career, he has worked with founders, investors and research-driven startups to identify promising ideas and help turn them into viable ventures. At Rice, he will draw on that experience to help faculty and students navigate the path from discovery to commercialization.
Dylan Chiu, Von Blucher Professor
“Rice has an opportunity to connect its world-class research with the experience, expertise and resources needed to bring new ideas into the world,” Dylan says. “The support behind this professorship will help us build those connections, giving faculty and students a clearer path from an early-stage discovery to a technology or company that can make a meaningful difference.”
Donor Sheryl von Blucher ’84, who funded the professorship, wanted Rice to move beyond generating promising ideas and build a stronger ecosystem for turning them into tangible results. “I wanted to support an environment where the next generation of innovators can take bold risks without being defined by the obstacles they face,” she says.
Eleven Positions, Many Reasons to Give
Across Rice, other donors saw similar opportunities to turn their own priorities into permanent faculty support.
Kevin Biddle ’76 and Kathy Balshaw-Biddle ’81 used the match to establish an endowed deanship in the Wiess School of Natural Sciences.
“The training and mentorship we received from faculty and staff in the natural sciences provided a solid foundation for our careers, and we have always been grateful for that.”
— Kevin Biddle ’76
George ’72 and Karan Ruhlen, who have been longtime supporters of The Rice Fund and other university priorities, opted to establish a professorship in the George R. Brown School of Engineering and Computing.
"We wanted to strengthen Rice’s longstanding leadership in the sciences, particularly engineering. We are in our retirement years, and we have found that it is most satisfying to give now, when we can see the impact. When we heard about the Ignite Challenge, we thought, ‘How could we resist?’”
— George Ruhlen ’72
For the Jain community, the match helped turn a decade-long aspiration into reality.
“As a relatively small community, the $1.5 million matching grant was instrumental in making this professorship in Jain studies possible. Without those matching funds, such a major initiative would have been difficult to achieve.”
— Anudeep Jain ’85 and Sulekh Jain
ACCELERATE THE VISION
Faculty are at the heart of Rice’s ability to advance discovery, educate the next generation and turn bold ideas into meaningful impact. To learn more about opportunities to support faculty at Rice, contact your development representative or Ginny Jones, executive director of development, at gbjones@rice.edu or 713-348-2096.
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Giving to Rice
Development & Alumni Relations
P.O. BOX 1892
Houston, Texas 77251-1892
Phone: 713-348-4991
Email: giving@rice.edu
