The first annual Patrons Circle dinner introduced friends new and old to the EAPS graduate student fellows and their diverse research interests.

With Neal Ra smussen ‘76, SM ‘80 at the helm, the EAPS Patrons Circle was launched in style last April with an inaugural dinner held on the 9th floor of the Green Building. Members of the EAPS Patrons Circle—those who have made a major gift to support a fellowship fund for EAPS students - had a chance to meet each other and get to know “their” students and, over a delicious dinner and lively conversation, many new friendships were formed. Rasmussen, a member of the MIT Corporation and EAPS Visiting Committee, thanked fellow Patrons for their continuing support and spoke passionately about the importance of investing in the next generation of scientists.

“The planet is facing some major challenges with changing climate, increasing pollution and rapid use of its natural resources, and society is going to need trusted advisers to help us make some difficult decisions—and what better place than MIT and EAPS to provide those trusted advisers? Fellowships provide the freedom for graduate students to focus on cutting edge research, answering basic questions about how the systems of our planet work, providing understanding that we urgently need so we can make wise decisions for the future of mankind,” Rasmussen said.

Jared Atkinson (Whiteman Fellow), Katie Castagno (Neil and Anna Rasmussen Fellow), Niraj Inamdar (Grayce B. Kerr Fellow), and Elena Steponaitis (Warren G. Klein Fellow) described their different paths to MIT and what inspired them to delve into research topics ranging from mining asteroids and looking for life on exoplanets, to examining New England’s paleoclimate records and studying cyclone patterns across the northeast and in Puerto Rico. Each student attested to the importance of fellowship support in giving them every opportunity to explore the most fascinating and promising paths of research and study.

Patrons and Fellows should save the date for the 2nd Annual EAPS Patrons Circle dinner to be held on March 31st, 2016 in the Ida Green Lounge! Will you join us?

EAPS alumni and friends are encouraged to support our fellowship funds at whatever level is most appropriate for you, as every gift is important to EAPS. To become a Patron, please consider supporting an EAPS Fellowship Fund with a gift or multi-year pledge of $75,000 or more (see Giving Opportunities on the back page). A gift of $100,000 could support one graduate student for a whole year! To make a “gift that keeps on giving”, a gift or pledge of $1M to name an endowed fellowship fund will provide support to one graduate fellow per academic year forever (and $500,000 can provide support to a fellow for one semester every year, forever). You can also make provision in your estate plan to fund our future students—and perhaps benefit from a life income for the rest of your life!

A warm thank you to all of our Patrons and donors at all levels—your support truly fuels our science as it ensures that we can not only attract the best students but also attract and retain our top faculty members. To find out more about supporting EAPS students and research, please contact Angela Ellis, EAPS Senior Development Officer, at 617-253-5796 or aellis@mit.edu.