UM to create science and engineering institutes

The University of Miami announced last week that it is creating the Frost Institutes for Science and Engineering to help solve some of the world’s most pressing problems.

University of Miami President Julio Frenk unveiled the network of intertwined research organizations housed under the Frost Institutes at the Miami Winter Symposium held in downtown Miami, which ating. tracted more than 100 scientists, researchers and doctors from 28 countries.

The Institutes’ initiative will be funded through the $100 million gift made by Dr. Phillip and Patricia Frost last year to support basic and applied sciences and engineering. Phillip Frost founded and ran several successful health care companies in Miami and is currently CEO of Opko Health, a biopharmaceutical company.

“The University of Miami is already known for excellence in biomedicine, marine sciences, and other fields, but continued excellence cannot be sustained without critical investments in basic and applied science, mathematics and engineering,” Frenk said.

The first individual institute will be the Frost Institute of Chemistry and Molecular Science, creating an arena for the comprehensive study of the chemical sciences, including basic and applied research areas, to advance technologies in chemistry, biochemistry and engineer- Additional institutes will be created over the next several years. The University will launch a national search for a leader for the Frost Institutes.

Part of the $100 million gift will be used for the construction of a science and engineering building on UM’s Coral Gables campus, to be named the Phillip and Patricia Frost Science and Engineering Building. Of the gift, $30 million is designated to the creation of at least 13 chairs in STEM fields.