Year after year, McGill continues to rank among the top Universities in the world, many with significantly larger resources. We owe much of that success to the generous philanthropic commitment of our alumni and friends. Your continued support towards to the Faculty of Science allows us to provide students with opportunities for learning and discovery which would otherwise be impossible.
Learn more about our priority fundraising areas:
Dean's Fund
The Dean's Fund is the only source of flexible funding available to the Dean to support emerging priorities and innovative programs at the Faculty. When you give to the Dean’s Fund, you provide much-needed funding to our students, researchers and Faculty members. A true science education needs to be expanded beyond the traditional classroom - your donations helps us provide a unique and empowering McGill experience.
Here are just a few examples of incredible projects and areas that have received funding (partial or full) through the Heroes of Science Dean's Fund:
- McGill NeuroTech: Seed funding was provided to an exceptional group of students who built a brain-controlled speller for people with disabilities. They won first place in the NeuroTechX international competition. Watch their video here.
- Microbiology and Immunology Student Association: provided funding to host their Alumni and Student Wine + Cheese Event
- Future Earth: a 10-year international research program which aims to build knowledge about the environmental and human aspects of Global change, and to find solutions for sustainable development
- Supporting the Diversity and Equity in Physics workshops expansion
- Policy and Data Science (PODS) Program: Helping to train a new generation of data-driven policy analysts
- Helping professors attend conferences such as the Joint IAPSO-IAMAS-IAGA Assembly and the Quebec-Ontario Mini-Symposium for Synthetic and Bioorganic Chemistry.
Scholarships and Student Support
Undergraduate student scholarships are awarded based on academic excellence to our top undergraduate students enrolled in full-time degree programs (average GPA 3.97). In the Faculty of Science, we have a goal of providing scholarships to the top 10% of students. Rewarding our students for their achievements also allows them to focus on their studies by eliminating financial stress.
Science Undergraduate Research Awards (SURAs)
SURAs were created to give students a taste of a career in research before committing to years of graduate school. Students perform full-time research for the 16 week summer holidays - not washing test tubes, but undertaking their own research projects akin to graduate studies. Many students have discovered their love for research and ended up with newfound thesis advisors for their Masters/PhD program. After the summer is finished, students get the opportunity to present their work in our annual Undergraduate Research Conference, and get to meet the donors who supported them at our annual Scholarship and Awards Reception. SURAs at McGill are akin to NSERC USRA awards.
Want to learn about the program? Click here to read some SURA student testimonials.
Field Studies
Learning extends far beyond the classroom, so we offer financial awards to offset the financial burden taken on by students pursuing field studies. Experiential learning is immeasurably beneficial to the student experience, and has an incredible impact on students' lives. Often times, alumni recount their field studies experiences as their most memorable times at McGill.
We have an extremely broad network of local and international field stations, including:
- Bellairs Research Institute, located in Barbados, is Canada's only teaching and research facility in the tropics.
- East Africa, helping students understand the goals, circumstances, challenges and opportunities of people living in Kenya, Uganda or Tanzania.
- The McGill Arctic Research Station (MARS) is one of the longest-operating seasonal field research facilities in the high Arctic and has the longest continuous mass balance record for any high Arctic glacier.
- The McGill Sub-Arctic Research Station in Schefferville, Quebec, near the Labrador border, offers summer and winter access to a vast lichen woodland and alpine tundra.
- The Gault Nature Reserve, situated on Mont St. Hilaire just 40km from Montreal, protects the largest remaining remnant of the primeval forests of the St. Lawrence River Valley. The mountain and its surroundings are a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.
- The Wilder and Helen Penfield Nature Conservancy features a laboratory for aquatic studies located lakeside on Lake Memphremagog, 100 km southeast of Montreal. Streams, rivers and over thirty nearby lakes and ponds offer a wide range of study sites. Research projects range from heavy metal loading to microbial growth rates and fish yields.
► Read more about the Arctic Field Studies Program on Axel Heiberg Island in the far north.