The University of California, San Diego has announced a $2.4 million grant from the Hellman Fellows Fund to provide fellowships to twenty-six junior faculty members as they strive for tenure.

Hellman fellowships are designed to enhance junior faculty members' tenure chances by providing funds for research projects and other scholarly work. This year's fellows include assistant professor of anthropology Joseph Hankins, who will examine ways in which survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs and their descendants have been marginalized in Japanese society. "Private funding is becoming increasingly important as public funding retreats," said Hankins. "As long as the situation is not reversed, private philanthropic support will be essential to conduct research even at public institutions."

Since its inception in 1995, the program has supported 250 faculty members at UCSD, and program benefactors Chris and Warren Hellman have created similar programs at thirteen other universities, including nine University of California campuses.

"The Hellmans' generosity and confidence in our young faculty over the years has had a profound impact on the scholarship of over two hundred promising faculty members," said UCSD executive vice chancellor Suresh Subramani. "The research resulting from their generosity will continue to contribute to many fields of study and enrich the intellectual fabric of this campus."