School of Informatics receives $60,000 grant

The Lilly Fellowship in Informatics was created this week when the Lilly Foundation endowed IU with a $60,000 gift. The Indianapolis-based company's grant will help support two graduate students working on their doctorate degrees. \n"The Lilly Fellowship invigorates our new doctoral program and will attract exceptional researchers," said School of Informatics Dean J. Michael Dunn in a statement. "This generous gift comes at a time when our research and education programs connected to the life sciences are growing, and the connection with Lilly bolsters the School's stature as a premiere training ground for scientists."\nAccording to a press release, the fellowship will be given out once a year to an informatics graduate student who is studying discover science, with a preference given to those who combine strong backgrounds in relevant scientific fields with skills in information technology.\nThe first recipient of the Lilly Fellowship is expected to be announced before the fall semester begins. \nThe Lilly Foundation has a long history of philanthropy, especially with IU. Earlier this month Lilly gave the IU Cancer Center in Indianapolis a $7.5 million gift to help it recruit and retain top research personnel. \n"The Lilly Foundation assists many nonprofit institutions by combining the generosity of employee-giving with corporate resources," Lilly Foundation President Robert L. Smith said in a statement. "Certainly, there is tremendous value in our supporting the continuing education of professionals who are key in advancing life sciences research now flourishing in Indiana."\nThe Eli Lilly and Company Foundation was created in 1968 to carry out the company's philanthropic interests and is a major source of the company's support for nonprofit and charitable organizations, according to a press release.