Anderson Endowment Programs

The Reid and Polly Anderson Endowment was established in 1987 by Reid Anderson (class of 1938) and Polly Anderson.  The purpose of the endowment is three-fold:

1. Support research opportunities for students through the Anderson Summer Research Assistantships. 
   
2. Award full-tuition academic scholarships in the sciences through the Anderson Scholarship for Excellence in Science. 
   
3. Host a notable speaker in the sciences each year through the Reid and Polly Anderson Lecture Series.

Anderson Summer Research Assistantships: 

Students write a proposal to conduct a research project under the guidance of a Denison science faculty member.  Recipients of an assistantship award receive a stipend and housing costs for 10 weeks, and a small budget for research purposes.  Each student produces a poster about the research activity and presents it at the Summer Science Symposium in September (click here to view the 2008 symposium) [pdf].  In recent years there have been 28-32 assistantships awarded each summer.

General information on creating and printing an academic poster at Denison is given in this two page handout [pdf].  More detailed information on making and presenting an academic poster at Denison is given during the Poster Making 101 sessions held each summer (click here for pdf) [pdf].

Anderson Scholarship for Excellence in Science: 

Sophomore science majors who are very strong academically are identified and nominated by the science departments usually in January or February.  Students are invited to apply and a committee of science faculty reviews the applications (March).  Finalists are interviewed by the faculty committee, which selects the recipient for the scholarship (April).  The recipient receives a full tuition award for the junior and senior year and is guaranteed an Anderson Summer Research Assistantship for the summer after the junior year. 

Reid and Polly Anderson Lecture Series: 

An annual convocation featuring a top scientist.  The Anderson’s hoped that the speaker could reach a general audience, but the Anderson Lecture is regarded as the college’s major science lecture of the year and is meant for a broad science audience.  The Anderson Lectureship rotates among departments within the Science Division.  Typically the Anderson Lecturer is on campus for 1-2 days, attends a pre-lecture dinner in his/her honor, gives the Anderson Lecture, and visits with a few classes or student groups as coordinated by the host department. 

Future Schedule:

2009-2010  Department of Physics & Astronomy

2010-2011  Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry

2011-2012  Department of Psychology

2012-2013  Department of Mathematics & Computer Science

2013-2014  Department of Biology

2014-2014  Department of Geosciences

Recent Anderson Lecturers