Leepo Cheng Yu received her Ph.D. in physics from the University of Maryland in 1969. She established this fund in honor of her Ph. D. thesis advisor, Professor Elliott W. Montroll (1916-1983). Professor Montroll was a research professor at the Institute for Fluid Dynamics and Applied Mathematics at the University of Maryland from 1951-1960. Professor Montroll applied the Ising model in statistical mechanics to analyze compositions of DNA in biology at a time before actual DNA sequences could be determined. This is one example of Montroll's versatility and ingenuity in applying theoretical physics to a broad spectrum of scientific questions. Dr. Yu followed Professor Montroll to the University of Rochester to complete her thesis when he was appointed as the Albert Einstein Professor of Physics and the Director of the Institute for Fundamental Studies.