Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
Encyclopedia
The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation is a philanthropic
non-profit organization
in the United States
. It was established in 1934 by Alfred P. Sloan, Jr.
, then-President
and Chief Executive Officer
of General Motors
.
and technology
, standard of living
, economic performance
, and education and careers in science and technology. The total assets of the Sloan Foundation have a market value of about US$1.9 billion.
In the 1950s, the foundation commissioned a series of educational animated short films through Warner Bros.
Animation starring Sylvester
and Elmer Fudd
and directed by Friz Freleng
that illustrate basic elements of capitalism
. This series includes By Word of Mouse (1954), Heir-Conditioned
(1955) and Yankee Dood It
(1956).
In 2000 the Sloan Foundation initiated a national program to prevent bioterrorism
that has evolved to address general terrorism preparedness, and has made 40 grant
s totaling over $17 million. Other projects recently sponsored in whole or in part by the Sloan Foundation are the Encyclopedia of Life
, Sloan Digital Sky Survey
and the Census of Marine Life
, which includes the Ocean Biogeographic Information System
(OBIS).
The Sloan Work and Family Research Network at Boston College
supports research and education about work-family issues. The Sloan Fellowship
s are annual awards given to more than 100 young researchers and university faculty, to further studies in science, economics
, neuroscience
, computer science
, and molecular biology
. In March 2008, the foundation announced a $3 million donation to the Wikimedia Foundation
, publishers of Wikipedia
.
The foundation also supports the Sloan Fellows
program, a mid-career Masters' degree in General Management, targeted at experienced managers who have already demonstrated a significant degree of career success (either within organizations or as entrepreneurs).
Under the auspices of enhancing the public understanding of science and technology, the Foundation has awarded a series of grants to filmmakers since 2003. One example is the Alfred P. Sloan Prize
at the Sundance Film Festival
, which rewards filmmakers who make films that focus on science or technology as a theme, or depicts a scientist, engineer, or mathematician as a major character. The current monetary value of the award is $20,000. The Foundation also gives the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Feature Film Prize
of $25,000 at the Hamptons Film Festival and similar grants at the Tribeca Film Institute
. The Foundation also provides "Film Development" grant awards for screenplays that fit its stated mission, "to create and develop new scripts about science and technology and to see them into commercial production at the major studios and networks."
Current board members include Harold T. Shapiro
Professor of Economics and Public Affairs Princeton University
and Robert M. Solow, who won the Nobel Prize
in economics in 1987.
In March 2008 the Foundation gave a three-year, $3 million grant to the Wikimedia Foundation
, renewed also in July 2011.
Philanthropy
Philanthropy etymologically means "the love of humanity"—love in the sense of caring for, nourishing, developing, or enhancing; humanity in the sense of "what it is to be human," or "human potential." In modern practical terms, it is "private initiatives for public good, focusing on quality of...
non-profit organization
Non-profit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. It was established in 1934 by Alfred P. Sloan, Jr.
Alfred P. Sloan
Alfred Pritchard Sloan, Jr. was an American business executive in the automotive industry. He was a long-time president, chairman, and CEO of General Motors Corporation...
, then-President
President
A president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country.Etymologically, a president is one who presides, who sits in leadership...
and Chief Executive Officer
Chief executive officer
A chief executive officer , managing director , Executive Director for non-profit organizations, or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or administrator in charge of total management of an organization...
of General Motors
General Motors
General Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...
.
Overview
The Foundation's programs and interests fall into the areas of scienceScience
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
and technology
Technology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...
, standard of living
Standard of living
Standard of living is generally measured by standards such as real income per person and poverty rate. Other measures such as access and quality of health care, income growth inequality and educational standards are also used. Examples are access to certain goods , or measures of health such as...
, economic performance
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
, and education and careers in science and technology. The total assets of the Sloan Foundation have a market value of about US$1.9 billion.
In the 1950s, the foundation commissioned a series of educational animated short films through Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
Animation starring Sylvester
Sylvester (Looney Tunes)
Sylvester J. Pussycat, Sr., Sylvester the Cat or simply Sylvester, is a fictional character, a three-time Academy Award-winning anthropomorphic Tuxedo cat in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies repertory, often chasing Tweety Bird, Speedy Gonzales, or Hippety Hopper...
and Elmer Fudd
Elmer Fudd
Elmer J. Fudd/Egghead is a fictional cartoon character and one of the most famous Looney Tunes characters, and the de facto archenemy of Bugs Bunny. He has one of the more disputed origins in the Warner Bros. cartoon pantheon . His aim is to hunt Bugs, but he usually ends up seriously injuring...
and directed by Friz Freleng
Friz Freleng
Isadore "Friz" Freleng was an animator, cartoonist, director, and producer best known for his work on the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons from Warner Bros....
that illustrate basic elements of capitalism
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
. This series includes By Word of Mouse (1954), Heir-Conditioned
Heir-Conditioned
Heir-Conditioned is a Warner Brothers Looney Tunes theatrical cartoon short released in 1955 and directed by Friz Freleng and written by Warren Foster. Heir-Conditioned is the second of three Looney Tunes shorts underwritten by the Alfred P...
(1955) and Yankee Dood It
Yankee Dood It
Yankee Dood It is a Warner Brothers Looney Tunes theatrical cartoon short released in 1956 and directed by Friz Freleng and written by Warren Foster. The title is a pun on Red Skelton's famous "I Dood It" line from the Mean Widdle Kid routine....
(1956).
In 2000 the Sloan Foundation initiated a national program to prevent bioterrorism
Bioterrorism
Bioterrorism is terrorism involving the intentional release or dissemination of biological agents. These agents are bacteria, viruses, or toxins, and may be in a naturally occurring or a human-modified form. For the use of this method in warfare, see biological warfare.-Definition:According to the...
that has evolved to address general terrorism preparedness, and has made 40 grant
Grant (money)
Grants are funds disbursed by one party , often a Government Department, Corporation, Foundation or Trust, to a recipient, often a nonprofit entity, educational institution, business or an individual. In order to receive a grant, some form of "Grant Writing" often referred to as either a proposal...
s totaling over $17 million. Other projects recently sponsored in whole or in part by the Sloan Foundation are the Encyclopedia of Life
Encyclopedia of Life
The Encyclopedia of Life is a free, online collaborative encyclopedia intended to document all of the 1.9 million living species known to science. It is compiled from existing databases and from contributions by experts and non-experts throughout the world...
, Sloan Digital Sky Survey
Sloan Digital Sky Survey
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey or SDSS is a major multi-filter imaging and spectroscopic redshift survey using a dedicated 2.5-m wide-angle optical telescope at Apache Point Observatory in New Mexico, United States. The project was named after the Alfred P...
and the Census of Marine Life
Census of Marine Life
The Census of Marine Life was a global network of researchers in more than 80 nations engaged in a 10-year scientific initiative to assess and explain the diversity, distribution, and abundance of life in the oceans...
, which includes the Ocean Biogeographic Information System
Ocean Biogeographic Information System
The Ocean Biogeographic Information System is a web-based access point to information about the distribution and abundance of living species in the ocean.-History:...
(OBIS).
The Sloan Work and Family Research Network at Boston College
Boston College
Boston College is a private Jesuit research university located in the village of Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, USA. The main campus is bisected by the border between the cities of Boston and Newton. It has 9,200 full-time undergraduates and 4,000 graduate students. Its name reflects its early...
supports research and education about work-family issues. The Sloan Fellowship
Sloan Fellowship
The Sloan Research Fellowships are awarded annually by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation since 1955 to "provide support and recognition to early-career scientists and scholars". This is distinct from the Sloan Fellows in business....
s are annual awards given to more than 100 young researchers and university faculty, to further studies in science, economics
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
, neuroscience
Neuroscience
Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system. Traditionally, neuroscience has been seen as a branch of biology. However, it is currently an interdisciplinary science that collaborates with other fields such as chemistry, computer science, engineering, linguistics, mathematics,...
, computer science
Computer science
Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...
, and molecular biology
Molecular biology
Molecular biology is the branch of biology that deals with the molecular basis of biological activity. This field overlaps with other areas of biology and chemistry, particularly genetics and biochemistry...
. In March 2008, the foundation announced a $3 million donation to the Wikimedia Foundation
Wikimedia Foundation
Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. is an American non-profit charitable organization headquartered in San Francisco, California, United States, and organized under the laws of the state of Florida, where it was initially based...
, publishers of Wikipedia
Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its 20 million articles have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world. Almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the site,...
.
The foundation also supports the Sloan Fellows
Sloan Fellows
The Sloan Fellows program is a mid-career master's degree in general management and leadership supported by a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. It is targeted at experienced managers who have already demonstrated a significant degree of career success . Alfred P...
program, a mid-career Masters' degree in General Management, targeted at experienced managers who have already demonstrated a significant degree of career success (either within organizations or as entrepreneurs).
Under the auspices of enhancing the public understanding of science and technology, the Foundation has awarded a series of grants to filmmakers since 2003. One example is the Alfred P. Sloan Prize
Alfred P. Sloan Prize
The Alfred P. Sloan Prize is an award given each year, starting in 2003, to a film at the Sundance Film Festival. The prize is given to a feature film that focuses on science or technology as a theme, or depicts a scientist, engineer, or mathematician as a major character.Each winner is presented...
at the Sundance Film Festival
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...
, which rewards filmmakers who make films that focus on science or technology as a theme, or depicts a scientist, engineer, or mathematician as a major character. The current monetary value of the award is $20,000. The Foundation also gives the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Feature Film Prize
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Feature Film Prize
The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Feature Film Prize award of $25,000.00 USD has been granted annually at the Hamptons International Film Festival since 2000 by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation....
of $25,000 at the Hamptons Film Festival and similar grants at the Tribeca Film Institute
Tribeca Film Institute
-Mission:The Tribeca Film Institute is a year-round non-profit arts organization founded by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal, and Craig Hatkoff in the wake of September 11, 2001...
. The Foundation also provides "Film Development" grant awards for screenplays that fit its stated mission, "to create and develop new scripts about science and technology and to see them into commercial production at the major studios and networks."
Current board members include Harold T. Shapiro
Harold T. Shapiro
Harold Tafler Shapiro, Ph.D is a former president of Princeton University and of the University of Michigan.-Biography:Born in Montreal, Quebec Harold Shapiro attended Lower Canada College, a prestigious independent school in Montreal, then trained as an economist, earning his B.Comm from McGill...
Professor of Economics and Public Affairs Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
and Robert M. Solow, who won the Nobel Prize
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
in economics in 1987.
In March 2008 the Foundation gave a three-year, $3 million grant to the Wikimedia Foundation
Wikimedia Foundation
Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. is an American non-profit charitable organization headquartered in San Francisco, California, United States, and organized under the laws of the state of Florida, where it was initially based...
, renewed also in July 2011.