Game-changers: Extraordinary Gifts Transform Colby Experience and Downtown Waterville

The path from Mayflower Hill to the nation’s top biomedical laboratories just got wider.

With a $5-million commitment from Trustee David Pulver ’63, P’93 and his wife, Carol P’93, the College established the Pulver Science Scholars Program to provide selected students with experiences to prepare them to be scientific leaders and innovators.

Working in tandem with the recently launched Linde Packman Lab for Biosciences Innovation, the Pulver Science Scholars Program will fund and facilitate high-level student research with Colby faculty and at places like The Jackson Laboratory, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory, among others.

The new opportunity for Colby student scientists comes at a time when competition for federal grant funding has never been greater. For the first time in the post-World War II era, the federal government no longer funds the majority of the basic research done in the U.S. Federal funding dipped to just 44 percent of the research dollars awarded in 2015, down from more than 70 percent in the 1960s and ’70s. By training the most talented science students, the Pulver Science Scholars Program will have a positive impact on potential life-saving discoveries and cures that could otherwise be delayed.

These initiatives are open to all, supporting students in their research ambitions regardless of their financial means.