Generosity gives new faculty space to grow
A gift from a former student helps attract the best and brightest to teach and research at the University of Michigan Engineering.
When David G. Messerschmitt (MS CICE ’68, PhD ’72) began his career as a university faculty member, he had a three-month-old daughter sleeping in a dresser drawer in a temporary apartment and an office that lacked the basic tools for research. He needed a computer terminal to access the internet, but the department chair didn’t have a budget for startup costs.
“I got along with the largesse of another senior faculty member who was very helpful,” recalled Messerschmitt. “He gave me permission to make purchases on his unrestricted donor account.”
That act of generosity was the spark that allowed Messerschmitt to launch a successful academic career at the University of California–Berkeley, eventually serving as a department chair and dean himself. Now, he and his wife are stepping in to be that benefactor for the next generation of University of Michigan Engineering faculty.
David and his wife Dorothy (an alum of U-M’s School of Literature and the Arts) recently endowed a Faculty Scholar Award in Electrical and Computer Engineering, targeting a specific, critical phase in an academic career: the beginning. New faculty often face a frustrating catch-22; needing funding to generate research results, but needing research results to secure grants.
“They want to get their research jump-started. They want to bring some students on board to work with them, and that requires support,” David said. “Junior faculty need that support so that they can develop the research track record that leads to their tenure.”
The Messerschmitt Faculty Scholar Award provides flexible, discretionary funding, unlike grants, which often come with strict restrictions and reporting requirements. This award offers faculty the freedom to pivot quickly, purchase necessary equipment or hire graduate research assistants to explore high-risk, high-reward ideas.
“By investing in the creativity and vision of our faculty, David and Dorothy are facilitating new discoveries that advance technology and serve society in areas such as artificial intelligence, quantum engineering, nanotechnologies and more. We are deeply appreciative of their support,” said Dennis Sylvester, the Peter and Evelyn Fuss Chair of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
For David, the motivation to give is rooted in gratitude for the support he received decades ago. Through a combination of state and federal support, scholarships, and employer fellowships, he notes with pride that he “went from kindergarten through PhD without paying a single dollar in tuition.”
David retired in 2005 and is now the Roger A. Strauch Professor Emeritus at Berkeley, while Dorothy also had a successful academic career at the University of San Francisco. “Now it’s appropriate to pay tuition in gratitude—to pay tuition after the fact, in a sense.”
The couple’s connection to Ann Arbor is personal as well as academic. Between them, they hold five degrees from the U-M. They met in Baits housing on North Campus, where Dorothy was David’s resident advisor.
“The whole environment of Michigan was supportive,” reflected Dorothy. “It wasn’t a cakewalk to get through U-M, but overall it has served us very well in our careers and in general life.”
The first Faculty Scholar Award recipient will be selected in the spring of 2027. The ultimate goal of the award is to ensure Michigan Engineering continues to attract and retain the brightest minds by giving them the space to grow.
“It’s an ongoing process that will hopefully go on indefinitely,” David said. “Michigan is an inspirational place in terms of its unilateral pursuit of excellence, on the football field, in education, in research and in helping society. How could it be any better?”
The initial draft of this story was generated by AI and then revised and validated by human editors.