Industrial magnate donates $100 million to MIT for cancer research
David H. Koch, the executive vice president of the $90 billion Kansas-based Koch Industries, announced he'll give $100 million of his own money to MIT for cancer research. Koch graduated from MIT. The gift will bring together MIT scientists and engineers under one roof to develop new and powerful ways to detect, diagnose, treat, and manage this often deadly disease.
The David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research--the cornerstone of a major research initiative comparable to MIT's spearheading the development of radar technology in World War II--will be housed in a new state-of-the-art cancer research facility, scheduled to open in 2010. The new Koch Institute will build on the pioneering research of MIT's Center for Cancer Research (CCR), founded by Nobel Prize winner Salvador E. Luria in 1974, and will bring to the next level MIT's longstanding commitment to unraveling the molecular core of the disease.
Koch, who holds bachelor's and master's degrees in chemical engineering from MIT, is an executive vice president and board member of Koch Industries, Inc., a diverse group of companies with about $90 billion in revenues, 80,000 employees, and a presence in nearly 60 countries. Koch companies are involved in refining and chemicals, process and pollution control equipment and technologies, minerals and fertilizer, fibers and polymers, commodity and financial trading and services, and forest and consumer products.
In addition to his business activities, Koch has personally pledged and contributed more than $400 million to a wide variety of organizations and programs that further cancer research, enhance medical centers and support educational institutions, and sustain arts and cultural institutions. Koch received a presidential appointment to the National Cancer Advisory Board of the National Cancer Institute in 2004. His contributions to MIT have established the David H. Koch School of Chemical Engineering Practice, and he has been honored with the dedication of the David H. Koch Biology Building at the university.