New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has given his alma mater, Johns Hopkins University, a $250 million gift that the school plans to use to hire 50 scientists, ScienceInsider reports. Another $100 million will go toward need-based financial aid for undergraduate students. Bloomberg received an engineering degree from Hopkins in 1964, for which, CNN notes, he had to take out loans. Bloomberg's overall donations to the school total $1 billion.
The Bloomberg Distinguished Professors, ScienceInsider adds, will focus on big-picture, interdisciplinary problems, such as "clean water, individualized health care, urban revitalization, and the science of learning."
"These professors will be the focal points for efforts to tackle complex problems from multiple disciplinary perspectives," Dennis O'Shea, executive director of media relations, tells ScienceInsider. O'Shea adds that the first professors will be hired in the spring.