Neil Gehrels Memorial Endowment in Astrophysics
The Neil Gehrels Memorial Endowment in Astrophysics continues to foster
Neil's long-standing commitment to educating young people
with strong scientific interests.
As Chief of the Astroparticle Physics Laboratory at NASA's Goddard
Space Flight Center and a College Park Professor of Astronomy at the
University of Maryland, Neil was a key figure in establishing the
Joint Space-Science Institute, a collaboration between scientists at
NASA Goddard and the University of Maryland's Departments of Physics
and Astronomy. An outstanding scientist, Neil received many honors
including the Dan David Prize in 2017. The prize recognized Neil's
pioneering contributions to the exploration of the transient universe
and, in particular, the study of gamma-ray bursts as Principal
Investigator of the Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Mission, which was
posthumously renamed the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory in 2018.
The Gehrels Memorial Endowment's initial funding came from his Dan
David Prize. We are grateful to the Dan David Foundation and to Neil's
family for directing the prize funds to establish and increase this
endowment, which supports collaborations between UMD
students/early-career scientists and NASA Goddard scientists.