The Nick Spitzer Design Innovation Award
With the Nick Spitzer Innovation Award, the School of Biological Sciences at UC San Diego honors one of our most well-respected faculty members by celebrating his commitment to student ingenuity. As Dr. Spitzer begins his much-deserved retirement, please show your support by making a gift to the Nick Spitzer Innovation Award Endowment fund.
Maximizing the momentum of this first-year effort, alumnus Erik Engelson '82, MS '84 has committed $10,000 in matching support for all gifts donated.
The award resonates with formative experiences in Dr. Spitzer’s development as a scientist. As he remembers:
“I was fortunate to be able to take on an independent research project during my college years that introduced me to the compelling world of scientific research. I did neurophysiology experiments in a faculty lab and discovered mechanisms underlying dark adaptation in the eye of the horseshoe crab, Limulus polyphemus.
It was exhilarating, and I became wholly absorbed in it, writing an honors thesis in my senior year. This experience was pivotal in determining the course of the rest of my career. Curiosity-driven research is the bedrock of the scientific enterprise.”
As envisioned, the Nick Spitzer Innovation Award will provide financial support for creative undergraduates to boldly pursue their novel hypotheses while being supported by peers and established scientists in a faculty laboratory. Unlike student support awards limited to individual financial aid, the award will also cover the expenses needed for laboratory research, such as reagents, equipment, model organisms, and recharge facilities (e.g., imaging, mass spectrometry). It is hoped that independent funding will encourage original thinking and experimental design, while introducing students to the joys of their own research and discovery.
As a research university, UC San Diego provides abundant opportunities for undergraduates to do research alongside highly talented graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and faculty. The Nick Spitzer Innovation Award joins programs like The Basement and our network of campus Maker Spaces in providing students the resources they need to develop promising concepts while pursuing their undergraduate degree.
Please make your gift to the Nick Spitzer Innovation Award Endowment fund today, and encourage your classmates and friends to join the celebration.