In today’s complex, deeply specialized, and vast world of research possibilities, how does the Simons Foundation envision having an impact? We see our potential to advance research through grantmaking that encourages collaborations, makes connections, and builds bridges. We seek to fund studies that will heighten interchanges between institutions, across fields, and among scientists to facilitate the exchange of new ideas. A few examples of grants made this fiscal year will illustrate our funding strategies and goals.

Modern theoretical physics and the geometric aspects of mathematics have had increasingly fruitful interactions in the past 30 years, illuminating and advancing both fields. We have every reason to expect that this approach will continue to be productive.

To this end, the Simons Foundation is funding the Simons Center for Geometry and Physics in order to bring together mathematicians and physicists investigating the fundamental shape and structure of the universe.

The application of quantitative methods to biology has been progressively more productive over the past several decades. The use of statistical methods and largescale data analyses, for example, is in the process of revolutionizing modern genetics. The applications of both math and physics have been critical to neurobiology. Bringing together mathematicians and biologists, the Simons Foundation supports a Biology Colloquium at the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute (MSRI), a systems biology program at the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), and a newly established biology program at the Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques (IHÉS). Through these interdisciplinary programs, the foundation hopes to stimulate collaborations that will further advance research in the life sciences.

Connecting investigators and facilitating their joint efforts to build a repository of blood samples and a collection of psychological assessment data is the goal of the Simons Simplex Collection (SSC). This project, involving over 100 people working in research teams at 13 outstanding institutions, is compiling a large sample of genotypic and phenotypic information to be made available for research worldwide. By coming together to assure a uniform standard of excellence, it is hoped that scientists will further our understanding of the fundamental roots of autism.

These grants are important representatives of our key strategy of building bridges. Collaboration can lead to new ways of looking at old problems; partnerships can lead to a synthesis of ideas; teamwork can help us build something greater than ourselves. By working together we anticipate exciting developments in the years ahead.

The Foundation is pleased to support many excellent projects. I hope you will enjoy reading about our work.

Marilyn Simons
President