Newswise — Milwaukee philanthropists Isabel and Alfred Bader have made a gift of $1.6 million to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) for the construction of the new Kenwood Interdisciplinary Research Complex (KIRC). In addition, UWM’s Center for Gravitation and Cosmology, which will be housed in the KIRC, will be named in honor of UWM Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Physics Leonard E. Parker, former director of the center.
“We are deeply grateful for this cornerstone support from Isabel and Alfred Bader for what will become the showcase facility at the new gateway to our campus,” said UWM Chancellor Michael R. Lovell. “It is extremely fitting that their gift honors one of the most distinguished professors in the history of our university. His contributions to UWM exemplify what we believe will take place in this complex in the decades to come.”
The KIRC will be the first new building on the UWM campus in more than a decade. The Physics Department will be the anchor tenant of the first building.
When completed, the KIRC will combine at one campus location researchers working in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The facility will foster collaborations among university scientists and industry partners, who will generate knowledge with near-future applications, educate new generations of scientist-leaders, and stimulate business development.
Construction begins in 2012, with expected occupancy in 2015.
For more than a half century, Parker has been offering new glimpses of our cosmos, showing, for example, how particles are created in an expanding universe. During the late 1960s, Parker established a new area of physics – quantum field theory in curved space-time – and inspired a new effort to unify the laws of nature. Parker’s work has been cited in thousands of research papers produced by physicists from around the world.
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