Help Solve the World’s Most Pressing Environmental Challenges
For more than a century, Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego has played an important role in creating a healthier planet for future generations, and philanthropy continues to play a vital role in helping Scripps achieve that goal.
Support Birch Aquarium at Scripps during the COVID-19 closure
Moving the Needle
We pioneer global exploration. With specialties that span every aspect of marine, earth, and atmospheric sciences, Scripps Institution of Oceanography is home to forerunners in climate change, medicine, and data. Through the Division of Marine Sciences, we teach and mentor the next generation of explorers and game-changers, and we interpret and communicate our planet-changing research in K-12 classrooms and at Birch Aquarium — our own living laboratory.
We envision human ingenuity as the salvation of the environment. As fisheries shrink, aquifers diminish, and massive tracts of rainforest are destroyed, we know that creativity and scientific exploration can forge a sustainable way of life. Our goal is to develop solutions that not only restore our habitats and resources, but safeguard our future by preserving the planet.
Addressing the planet’s most pressing crises means investing in opportunities to leverage Scripps Oceanography’s greatest strengths: our maverick people and programs. To make waves in the world, we seek support for student and faculty fellowships, education and science communication programs, research initiatives and centers, and capital renewal and renovation projects.
A Legacy of Excellence
1st in the nation
4th in the world
Earth and environmental research rankings —Nature
1st in the nation
Oceanography, atmospheric sciences, and meteorology doctoral programs —National Research Council
Home to the Keeling Curve
Foundational to the current science of climate change, developed by Scripps faculty member Charles David Keeling
Renowned faculty
3 Nobel laureates, 17 National Academy of Sciences members, and 2 National Academy of Engineering members (current and former) —Scripps Awards
Scripps Institution of Oceanography Priorities
Enhancing the student experience
- Fellowship support brings emerging scientists to Scripps and provides graduate students with the flexibility to pursue ambitious research.
- Postdoctoral fellows connect Birch Aquarium exhibits with undergraduate classes and academic divisions — such as visual/multimedia arts, computer science, and cognitive science — augmenting our science education and communications initiatives.
Enriching our campus community
- Our new Technology for Conservation building will provide needed space to support faculty and student activities at the intersection of preservation and innovation.
- The Scripps Oceanography Campus Renewal will renovate historic facilities and structures, assuring both architectural conservancy and maximization of our scientific spaces.
- Named endowed faculty chairs and faculty fellowships buoy the work of faculty leaders who define excellence in their discipline.
- We can boost the reach of Birch Aquarium by investing in new community education programs that highlight current research and enhance the visitor experience through a multi-phase expansion and renovation.
Sparking research and innovation
- Research support provides our world-class scientists with greater freedom, creativity, and daring in the pursuit of boundary-breaking ideas on every continent and in every ocean, impacting our ability to adapt to climate and other environmental change, protecting us against natural hazards, enhancing our health, and developing our marine economy.
- Centers for each of Scripps priority areas link research and communication with our community. We seek support for the Center for Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation, the Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation, the Center for Marine Biotechnology and Biomedicine, the Center for Oceans and Human Health, and the Polar Science Center.
Help Us Continue the Nontradition
With your help, Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego will engineer solutions that go beyond restoring habitats to forging new and more sustainable ways of life. For more than a century, Scripps has led the way to create healthier oceans and a better Earth. Together with your philanthropic support of the Campaign for UC San Diego, we can expand our worldwide exploration, leveraging the intersection between our scientific pre-eminence and educational mandate to transformationally impact our planet.
