IRVINE : Biological Sciences Trust Pledged to UCI

A Fullerton couple has pledged a trust fund valued at more than $100,000 to create a much-needed biological sciences fellowship at UC Irvine, a university spokesman said Tuesday.

The William D. Redfield Fellowship will provide research funds and expenses for a promising graduate student in the department of molecular biology and biochemistry beginning this fall, UCI spokesman Scott Nelson said.

It is the first fellowship of its kind at UCI’s School of Biological Sciences, and Dean L. Dennis Smith said he hoped it would encourage the creation of others to support graduate students who otherwise could not afford to get their degrees.

“I got a fellowship when I went to school. Had I not had one, I’m not sure how far I would have progressed,” said Smith, a developmental biologist who on Sept. 1 takes UCI’s No. 2 position as executive vice chancellor.

The fellowship fund was offered July 26 on Redfield’s 75th birthday by his wife, Elaine, a longtime UCI supporter and member of the university foundation’s board of directors.

“This type of contribution is an investment without peer,” said Redfield, a retired scientist for the Chevron Oil Field Research Corp. who, himself, made it through UCLA’s microbiology doctoral program in 1945 with the aid of a privately funded fellowship.

“It is the only way to attract really good people into research,” he said. “Even a public university cannot depend solely on government support.”

A recipient for this year’s Redfield fellowship will be chosen by a faculty committee this fall, Smith said.

The trust fund is expected to generate about $5,000 annually to support a graduate student. Because it does not revert to the university until the death of the Redfields, they have pledged annual donations of $2,500. That amount will be matched by Redfield’s former employer through its employee matching gifts program, Nelson said.

Smith said graduate students in the University of California system are paid about $14,000 annually, which must cover tuition, fees and living expenses. But because only 50% of the graduate students are covered, the others, typically those who work in the sciences, must be funded through various research grants and fellowships.

“It is ironic, when you think about it, that there is developing a major national need for Ph.D.s in the sciences at the same time research support to train students is decreasing,” Smith said, referring to the increasing difficulty professors nationally are having in winning federal funds for research grants.

UCI, which took in a record $78 million in the 1989-90 academic year in research grants, is “doing quite well,” Smith said. But for the biological sciences school to be at the forefront in this major research field, more fellowships are needed.

“I earnestly hope that the Redfield fellowship will be an example for other people to set up similar kinds of fellowships,” Smith said.