Bayer CropScience Continues Long-Standing Partnership with Texas Tech with Record Research Donation

Texas Tech University officials Thursday afternoon officially announced a $19.3 million gift from Bayer CropScience.  The donation will be used for research programs and projects in the College of Agriculture Sciences and Natural Resources.

The contribution has also been submitted to the state to receive matching funds from the Texas Research Incentive Program, otherwise known as TRIP.  If the matching funds are received from the state, the total impact of the donation would become $38.6 million.  Bayer CropScience would then become the donor of the largest cash investment for research in Texas Tech history.

“Today’s announcement continues a productive and valuable research collaboration between Texas Tech University and Bayer CropScience,” said Texas Tech University System Chancellor Kent Hance, who has been working on this contribution with Scott Cooksey, interim vice chancellor for Institutional Advancement, for three years. “Along with anticipated matching funds from the Texas Research Incentive Program, the impact of this contribution will reach nearly $40 million and benefit not only our research enterprise, faculty and students, but also our region.”

Texas Tech officials stated the funds will support new research in the Department of Plant and Soil Science (PSS), including an endowed chair in PSS, a fellowship endowment for graduate students and new research facilities and space in PSS.

“We are so pleased at the opportunity to continue to build our relationship with Texas Tech University,” said Mike Gilbert, vice president for Global Breeding and Trait Development, Bayer CropScience. “It will take multiple companies and institutions to address all the challenges agriculture will face in the future. Bayer CropScience is committed to research and development through collaborations such as this, and Texas Tech shares these same commitments. We look forward to a long and rewarding relationship that will impact agriculture in ways we can’t even imagine today.”

According to Texas Tech, Bayer’s total contributions to the university since 1998 equal $27.6 million. The full impact of Bayer's contributions to Texas Tech including the matching state funds is $54.85 million, when leveraged with TRIP and Regents’ Professorship matching funds totaling $27.25 million.

“Partnerships between Texas Tech University and corporations like Bayer CropScience are essential as we advance our research enterprise and continue our forward momentum as one of the nation’s leading research institutions,” said Texas Tech University President M. Duane Nellis. “We are truly grateful to Bayer CropScience and its leadership for their confidence and vision in Texas Tech University and look forward to collaborating on cutting-edge and impactful research.”