Institutional development · Finance, funding and sustainability · United States
Stanbacks give Caltech and JPL US$27.5 million for aerospace makerspace and hypersonics
Two gifts from Foster and Coco Stanback will fund a makerspace at JPL, Caltech-run training programmes and an enlarged hypersonics facility with a new shock tube.
Why it matters: Aerospace researchers and trainees at Caltech and JPL gain a new JPL makerspace, Caltech-run training programmes and an upgraded hypersonics facility.
Philanthropists Foster and Coco Stanback have given Caltech and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), a NASA laboratory managed by Caltech, a combined US$27.5 million in two gifts, the university said.
The larger gift, US$20 million channelled via the Foundation for the Carolinas, will establish a facility called the New Space Makerspace at JPL and fund Caltech-run programmes in education and workforce development.
The other gift, worth US$7.5 million, will pay for refurbishing and enlarging Caltech's hypersonics research facility, including a new shock tube to study very high-speed flight.
Caltech President Ray Jayawardhana said the gifts would speed the conversion of ambitious ideas into new technologies and give students practical training for a fast-changing aerospace sector.
Editor’s view
Richard Davies, Policy and Finance Editor
Researchers and trainees at Caltech and JPL are the direct beneficiaries: the funds will create a new makerspace at JPL, support Caltech-run training, and enlarge Caltech's hypersonics laboratory with an additional shock tube.
