george p mitchell of houston is spearheading the development of a new science initiative at texas a&m university with a $35 million gift to support an effort to propel the institution into the front ranks of fundamental physics and astronomy this donation by the oil gas and land development entrepreneur and his wife cynthia is the latest in a series supporting the universitys scientific development with previous gifts supporting important additions such as academic chairs professorships and the giant magellan telescope project the mitchells are texas a&ms most financially supportive benefactors of the modern day with donations now totaling $445 million for the sciences alone im interested in helping texas a&m become one of the worlds leading institutions in scientific research in areas ranging from the far reaches of deep space to the very near halls of higher learning said george mitchell an alumnus of the university having talented physicists and astronomers come to texas a&m will attract students across the sciences mitchell has commissioned noted architect michael graves & associates to design two buildings that will form the cornerstone of the universitys expanded physics and astronomy programs the george p and cynthia w mitchell institute for fundamental physics and astronomy and the george p mitchell 40 physics building the buildings which will be joined are to be located on the north side of the campus adjacent to the new brown engineering building together they will provide approximately 155 000 square feet of floor space for teaching and research related to various aspects of physics it was important to commission an architect who would be able to incorporate the innovative nature of these research efforts into the design of their physical plant mitchell said michael graves is a perfect match for the job graves and his firms michael graves & associates (the architecture and interior design practice) and michael graves design group (the product design practice) have won over 175 awards for design excellence graves who taught at princeton university for about 40 years was the recipient of the 1999 national medal of arts and the 2001 american institute of architects gold medal michael graves & associates based in princeton new jersey created master plans for portions of rice university and designed the new building housing the houston branch of the federal reserve bank of dallas among many other notable projects the mitchells generosity will not only significantly enhance scientific research and teaching at texas a&m but will also firmly establish us as a national leader in an area ripe with opportunity and prospects for discoveries and advancements that can only be dreamed of at this point said texas a&m president robert m gates at a time when many are concerned about the future of science and engineering programs in our country texas a&m is making an extraordinary statement with the construction of the mitchell buildings as well as more than $175 million in other construction projects related to science and engineering gates said we will be adding 200 new faculty positions in these areas half are expected to be added in the near term with our ambitious faculty reinvestment program aimed at hiring 447 new faculty members by 2008 the mitchells have previously been associated with the creation of seven academic chairs including a career enhancement award and two professorships in physics for texas a&m they have also provided major support for post-doctoral fellowships and astronomy lectures stephen hawking the cambridge university physicist famous for his theories on black holes and best-selling books about the universe and the namesake of texas a&ms mitchell-funded stephen hawking chair in fundamental physics presented public lectures in 2003 at texas a&m and at the cynthia woods mitchell pavilion in the woodlands texas to inaugurate the mitchell institute at texas a&m in addition they have provided funding that has allowed texas a&m to be a partner in the giant magellan telescope project a state-of-the-art next-generation telescope that is expected to produce images 10 times sharper than those of the hubble more than a year ago texas a&m announced that it and the university of texas at austin would join the observatories of the carnegie institution of washington harvard university the smithsonian astrophysical observatory the massachusetts institute of technology the university of arizona and the university of michigan as partners in the giant magellan telescope consortium the giant magellan telescope will provide us with unparalleled insights into and information about the nature of the universe said dr edward fry head of the physics department the mitchells gift has launched texas a&m into astronomy in a significant way for decades mitchell has been a major benefactor of texas a&ms marine-oriented branch campus in galveston among other gifts for texas a&m university at galveston he donated the 135 acres where its main campus is located and which carries his fathers name the mitchells also provided major funding for texas a&ms petroleum engineering department and the new tennis center which now bears the mitchell name -atm- contact: shana k hutchins (979) 862-1237 or shutchins@tamuedu or dr edward s fry (979) 845-7717 or fry@physicstamuedu