RCSA’s 1977 Gift Provides Decades of Support for Women Scientists
Rachel Brown
Two students working under the direction of Cottrell Scholars received scholarships in the 2022-2023 academic year from Mount Holyoke College’s Rachel Brown Fellowship Fund, which was established by RCSA in 1977.
Abigail Tadlock, who majored in physics and astronomy, completed an independent study during her senior year with Cottrell Scholar 2018 Kerstin Nordstrom studying soft granular flow. Ella Phillips, a physics and mathematics double-major focusing on electronics, worked in the lab of Cottrell Scholar 2009 Katherine Aidala during summer 2022 doing semiconductor fabrication.
The fund, established with an original RCSA gift of $200,000, provides undergraduate scholarships for women majoring in the physical or biological sciences, or fellowships for women graduating from Mount Holyoke with majors in the physical or biological sciences.
Since the fund was established, Mount Holyoke has given more than $2 million to 70 Rachel Brown Scholars, who retain the award for two years or more. The fund’s market value has grown to more than $2 million.
“Supporting diversity in science has always been important,” said RCSA President & CEO Daniel Linzer. “It’s gratifying to see how this catalytic gift has helped generations of early career female scientists.”
Brown was a 1920 graduate of Mount Holyoke. Along with her research partner at the New York State Department of Health, Elizabeth Hazen, she developed the antifungal drug nystatin in 1950. RCSA helped Brown and Hazen patent and license their discovery as Mycostatin, which was subsequently distributed by the E.R. Squibb pharmaceutical company.
The two researchers used their profits to establish the RCSA-administered Brown-Hazen Research Fund for scholarships and research at American colleges and universities. Between 1956 and 1978, when the Mycostatin patents expired, those royalties helped enable RCSA to distribute $6.5 million via the Brown-Hazen Fund.
For their work, Brown and Hazen received the Chemical Pioneer Award from the American Institute of Chemists in 1975, the first women to receive that honor. Brown died in 1980.
Read more about Brown and the scholarship in her name at Mount Holyoke.
