Santa Fe Institute Awarded Over $7M in Grants

Funding Provides Multi-Year Grants for Support of Core Research and Founding Program on Robustness of Social Processes. The Santa Fe Institute (SFI) recently received three grants totally $7,357,000 from the MacArthur Foundation, the McDonnell Foundation, and the National Science Foundation (NSF).

SANTA FE (OCTOBER 14, 2002) -- The Santa Fe Institute (SFI) recently received three grants totaling $7,357,000. They come from the John T. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the James S. McDonnell Foundation 21st Century Collaborative Award/Studying Complex Systems, and the National Science Foundation (NSF). The $1,200,000 MacArthur Foundation award and the $3,176,000 NSF grant are, respectively, three and five-year grants for general support of SFI Core Research. The McDonnell Foundation grant is a five-year $2,981,000 award to fund a Founding Program on Robustness of Social Processes.

    We are very grateful to NSF and the MacArthur Foundation for recognizing the importance of funding Core Research. For an institute like SFI this means the ability to have exploratory workshops with scientists who are doing novel research that is not mainstream," said Ellen Goldberg, President of the Santa Fe Institute. This is the most difficult funding to find because it is a measure of faith on what might be, rather than what is, and is reflective of the vision of these two distinguished foundations," she continued.

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Of the McDonnell Foundation grant, Dr. George Gumerman, Acting Vice President for Academic Affairs, said, This far reaching and broad initiative on the robustness of social processes applies the kind of research the Santa Fe Institute is known for --complex systems research-applied to a new domain, social sciences. Under the direction of Principal Investigator Erica Jen, prominent scientists like Nobel Laureate Ken Arrow, MacArthur Fellow John Holland, and others will come together to participate in research that addresses such social science topics as robustness in organizations, economic systems, and political systems." He continued, The McDonnell Foundations commitment to complex systems research is clearly demonstrated by their support for this program."

Founded in 1984, the Santa Fe Institute is a private 501 (c) 3 research and education center. The Institute provides a unique environment for visiting and resident scientists from the physical, biological, computational and social sciences. SFI operates as a visiting institution to catalyze new collaborative, multidisciplinary research; to break down the barriers between the traditional disciplines; to spread its ideas and methodologies to other institutions; and to encourage the practical application of its results.

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