THE W. M. KECK FOUNDATION 2006 ANNUAL REPORT promising directions NEWeyes THE W. M. KECK FOUNDATION 2006 ANNUAL REPORT CHAIRMAN’S MESSAGE For more than ten years, astronomers have been peering deeper into the universe using the twin telescopes at the W.M. Keck Observatory atop Hawaii’s Mauna Kea. At the same time those giant eyes are probing the vast frontiers of space, other Keck ION T grant recipients across the country are using precision instrumentation to make F O U N DA fundamental advances at nanometer dimensions. By supporting innovative basic K science and engineering through the development of new tools, the W.M. Keck THE W. M. KEC Foundation is helping scientists gain insight into our world at the subatomic, | 2 human and cosmic scales. P a g e While these tools, including the extraordinary Keck telescopes, are critically important for the advancement of science, we know that vision and discovery require more. What is also needed are ways for data captured by each lens – at any scale – to be examined, interpreted, shared and utilized by innovative minds across the full range of scientific disciplines. Because our objective is to stay at the forefront of innovative research funding, in the spring of 2006 the Foundation hosted two symposia where a diverse group of senior and junior scientists pooled their collective brilliance to discuss and debate bold new directions in scientific innovation. These insightful people confirmed our belief that innovation is not just about data. It’s about ideas. The 2006 symposia were modeled after a similar event we held in 1999, at which expert groups identified major future scientific challenges and opportunities in data management and analysis, genomics, nanotechnology and complexity. What funding opportunities did the 2006 symposia help us identify? First, new instrumentation to gather data remains a priority in every field of science. Second, new methods are essential to visualize and communicate data across ION scientific disciplines. Third, new cross-disciplinary conceptual frameworks can enable T scientists to derive meaning and gain new insights from the massive amounts of F O U N DA K data being acquired. These conversations inspired us to focus on “New Eyes” as the theme for this THE W. M. KEC | 3 year’s annual report. As with the Keck telescopes, this theme speaks to both new tools, P a g e and to new ways of seeing. It is illustrated in the following pages with stories that touch on the following questions: n What unseen and even unimagined phenomena might be discovered using new instrumentation to gather data at scales and resolutions not currently available? n What new insights could be derived from using new tools for visualizing and synthesizing data? n What new meanings and understandings could be generated by creatively applying strategies and models from one discipline to another? The Keck Foundation is grateful to those who participated in both the 2006 and 1999 roundtables. These discussions have been invaluable in shaping our focus on funding the most pioneering and high-impact scientific research with the greatest potential for major breakthroughs in understanding our world. Grant Activities In 2006, as we have done from time to time in the past, we reviewed our grant application guidelines, as well as the process we use for evaluating applications ION T and making funding decisions. Our goals in doing so were manifold: to ensure F O U N DA we are using our exceptional staff and board resources in the most efficient and K effective way possible; to keep pace with the interdisciplinary nature of the THE W. M. KEC grant applications we receive; and to deepen our commitment to W.M. Keck’s | 4 legacy while ensuring that we continue to be an important source of funding for P a g e America’s best and brightest investigators. Above all, our goal is to ensure that we are funding the very best of the best ideas brought to us for consideration. This review has produced a number of important and positive changes. In a way, we have adopted our own new ways of seeing so that we can best evolve and refine our own practices. We looked to the multi-disciplinary nature of scientific progress as a model and have adopted a more collaborative approach to our internal processes for evaluating grants in our focus areas of science, engineering, and medical research, in undergraduate science and liberal arts education, and our Southern California program. Whereas in the past, grant applications would be evaluated by staff dedicated to each of our program areas, today we are forming multi- disciplinary teams of our own to assess grant applications and make recommen- dations to our board. Our objective is to ensure that we fund the best and most promising projects according to rigorous evaluative criteria, regardless of where they might fall within our traditional categories. We continue to use a two-phase process for grant review. Applicants whose ION projects pass the initial or qualifying phase are invited to proceed to a more T intensely evaluative phase. Our goal is simple: to fund innovative or distinctive F O U N DA K projects that will have a transformative or significant impact on a compelling problem or issue, create new fundamental knowledge, new instruments and new THE W. M. KEC | 5 models. Our evaluation criteria direct us toward projects that would be seriously P a g e impaired but for the assistance of private philanthropy generally, and the W.M. Keck Foundation in particular. We aim to facilitate projects that will lead to breakthrough advancements. Often, that means funding bold, high-risk projects in which researchers, educators, and community leaders collect data or develop insights that may lead to an improved understanding of complex scientific, social and environmental issues. We hope these projects will become successful later-stage applications to other public and private funding sources. To help ensure that all applicants are fully aware of our current grant application policies and guidelines, we are publishing them on our website at www.wmkeck.org. In 2006, the W.M. Keck Foundation paid out more than $47 million and awarded 37 new grants totaling $38 million. Of the new grants made in 2006, 15 were for science and engineering research, undergraduate science and engineering, and liberal arts, 10 were for medical research, and 12 were made under the Foundation’s Southern California program. ION T F O U N DA Governance K The Foundation is delighted to welcome Dr. Thomas Everhart, the Foundation’s THE W. M. KEC Senior ScientificA dvisor since 1998, as a new board director, and to announce the | 6 appointment of Dr. Stephen Ryan as the chair of the Medical Research Committee, P a g e where he succeeds Mr. Richard Foster. Tom and Steve have provided years of valuable service to the Foundation and we are grateful to them for assuming these responsi- bilities. Likewise, I want to thank Dick for his exemplary leadership of the Medical Research Committee during his tenure as its chairman. We are also pleased to report that Mr. Stephen Keck has joined the Medical Research Committee, Mr. Theodore Keck has joined the Science and Engineering Committee, and Ms. Tammis Day has joined the Southern California and Liberal Arts Committee. Finally, we welcome Mr. Sean Vaughan and Mr. Brian Finch as the Foundation’s newest board members. Finally, I would like to thank Jonathan Jaffrey for his many years of service and contributions to the Foundation. Jonathan has decided to establish his own business, and he is succeeded by Allison Keller, formerly a partner in O’Melveny & Myers, who will serve as Chief Administrative Officer and Chief Financial Officer of the Foundation. Financial Matters The W. M. Keck Foundation continues to operate on a solid financial basis. Our auditors, Ernst & Young, report that the net assets of the Foundation were ION $1.4 billion as of December 31, 2006. The complete financial statements are T available on our website. F O U N DA K W.M. Keck took pride in being at the cutting-edge of oil and gas exploration, and in discovering opportunities by looking at old problems with THE W. M. KEC | 7 new eyes. Since 1954, the Keck Foundation has worked to take the same approach P a g e to philanthropy, funding bold ideas with breakthrough potential. In closing, I want to thank our board and staff for their dedication and for another year of accomplishments in the pursuit of W.M. Keck’s vision for scientific and cultural advancement. Sincerely, ROBERT A. DAY CHAIRMAN, PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Promising DIRECTIONS II: NEW EYES By Thomas E. Everhart ION T The only real voyage of discovery consists F O U N DA K not in seeing new landscapes, but in having new eyes, in seeing the universe with the eyes of another, of hundreds of others, THE W. M. KEC | in seeing the hundreds of universes 8 that each of them sees. — MARCEL PROUST P a g e Proust’s words have great significance for researchers in science, engineering and medicine who probe the secrets of nature, design the equipment and systems that ION T empower society, and apply these new F O U N DA K designs and systems to improving human THE W. M. KEC | 9 welfare. As the Keck Foundation seeks to encourage P a g e cutting-edge, high-impact, high-risk research to probe nature and use the knowledge gained to improve the human condition, we need the perspective provided by the D -CC Camera “new eyes” of those engaged in these enterprises, whether we gain that perspective by reading, by discussing, or by seeing directly.