MEDIA RELEASE

Thanks to an anonymous donor’s $60,000 gift, the 2/10/50 A Starlit Walk into Eternity fund has been established at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa’s Institute for Astronomy (IfA). The endowed fund will be used to support students, programs, research and community outreach at Institute for Astronomy, and further enhance its position as one of the world’s leading astronomical research centers. “We are grateful to receive this very generous donation that will greatly benefit our students, astronomers, and staff at the Institute. It will also help us in our public outreach efforts, which have been enormously success,” said Dr. Rolf Kudritzki, director, Institute for Astronomy.

The gift comes at an exciting time for the Institute for Astronomy. Last year Mauna Kea was selected as the preferred site for the Thirty Meter Telescope, the world’s largest telescope, and Haleakala as the site for the Advanced Solar Telescope, a $300 million National Science Foundation project to study the sun. The IfA also received news last year that Honolulu was chosen as the location for the 2015 meeting of the International Astronomical Union General Assembly, the world’s largest meeting of professional astronomers.

Contributions to the Institute for Astronomy can be made online at www.uhf.hawaii.edu/GiveToIFA or please contact Harriet Cintron, UH Mānoa Gift Officer at (808) 956-3594 or e-mail Harriet.Cintron@uhf.hawail.edu