UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State’s 2020 Philanthropist of the Year, Keiko Miwa Ross, has directed over $17 million in support to landmarks across University Park, from the Dr. Keiko Miwa Ross Student Farm to the spaces that welcome visitors to the new Palmer Museum of Art. Now her philanthropy is reaching beyond the Penn State campus to shape our understanding of the universe with a $2 million commitment to endow the Lee M. Hammarstrom-Dr. Keiko Miwa Ross Endowed Faculty Position in the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics.
The gift honors Ross' friendship with Lee Hammarstrom, a Penn State engineering alumnus and a pioneer in intelligence space systems, and it will support the work of Joel Leja, an assistant professor of astronomy and astrophysics whose work explores the formation of distant galaxies.
“Dr. Ross’s extraordinary generosity in support of our students and our mission has already enriched our campus and community in so many ways, for which I am profoundly grateful. This latest commitment will build on her incredible impact by enhancing Penn State’s leadership in astronomy and astrophysics while supporting the work of researchers and educators like Dr. Leja,” said Penn State President Neeli Bendapudi. “Penn State’s exceptional faculty drive innovation and impact while bringing a world-class education to our students, and the new Lee M. Hammarstrom-Dr. Keiko Miwa Ross Endowed Faculty Position will enhance our ability to recruit and retain leading experts and scholars — ensuring that the Penn State name, as well as those of Dr. Ross and Mr. Hammarstrom, remains synonymous with excellence and discovery.”
The endowment will empower the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics to award support to a faculty member at any stage of their career, helping to recruit and retain both established leaders and emerging stars.
“Private support is crucial to enhancing the positive impact of our faculty’s work as well as fulfilling the University’s critically important mission as Pennsylvania’s land-grant institution,” said Tracy Langkilde, Penn State interim executive vice president and provost, and the Verne M. Willaman Dean of the Eberly College of Science. “Dr. Ross’s philanthropy has touched almost every part of this University, including support for the arts, innovation and entrepreneurship and student success. We are especially humbled that she has chosen the Eberly College of Science for her first faculty endowment.”
Langkilde’s gratitude is shared by Mary Beth Williams, acting dean of the Eberly College of Science. Williams said, “This extraordinary commitment will support faculty in our college who are advancing the frontiers of scientific knowledge. Through Mr. Hammarstrom’s inspiration and advocacy, Dr. Ross recognized the exceptional research being conducted in the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics and structured her unique financial support to be both immediate and flexible to meet the research needs of our faculty as they expand human understanding of the universe. This is truly a special and impactful gift, and we are grateful to both Dr. Ross and Mr. Hammarstrom.”
Ross and Hammarstrom are both residents of the Village at Penn State in State College. Born and raised in Japan, Ross was an educational pioneer in her native country, one of the nation’s first female undergraduates. She completed her education in the United States, first receiving her bachelor of arts degree and, later, her master’s and doctoral degrees in education from universities in Washington State. Through her work, she met S. Thomas Ross, director of an American-Japanese joint venture company. They met in 1970, were married the following year and lived in Japan until 1977, when Thomas was assigned to New York. Keiko subsequently became an American citizen and worked for the U.S. Department of State. The Rosses ultimately settled in State College, and Thomas passed away in 2013.
“Supporting Penn State has given me a path to continuing my lifelong commitment to education and excellence,” said Ross. “The University Park campus is both an extraordinary place for learning, discovery and service to the community and a home for extraordinary faculty and students. I am pleased to extend my philanthropy in support of Dr. Joel Leja and the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics because I believe that they have the potential to change human understanding and carry Penn State’s impact forward far into the future.”
Lee M. Hammarstrom earned a degree in electrical engineering from Penn State in 1962 and went on a long career in space and information technology, eventually serving as a special assistant to the director of the Applied Research Laboratory (ARL) at his alma mater. Working at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), he conceived and led a satellite reconnaissance program, named PARCAE, that President Ronald Reagan recognized twice for its contributions to national security. He was the system engineer and integrator for the initial GPS program that demonstrated the navigation capacities the world enjoys today. He created the National Reconnaissance Office’s (NRO) Technology Office and became the first chief scientist at the NRO. He conceived and led a Department of Defense wide communications network upgrade that improved world-wide secure communications by 42 times from Desert Storm 1 in 1991, to Desert Storm 2 in 2003. Hammarstrom was named an NRO Pioneer in 2002 for his 40 years of contributions to national reconnaissance. He said he credits Penn State’s cross-disciplinary environment for his successes.
“Over my career, I have had the privilege of working alongside some of the most visionary scientists in my field, and I am excited that Penn State has become a home to the next generation of extraordinary leaders in astronomy and astrophysics,” said Hammarstrom. “Dr. Joel Leja in particular is a researcher whose work has the potential to fundamentally change our understanding of the universe. To keep individuals of his caliber at Penn State, we must invest in their future careers. I am delighted that Dr. Ross has stepped forward with this commitment, and I am honored to have my name linked with hers and with that of Dr. Leja.”
As the first holder of the Lee M. Hammarstrom-Dr. Keiko Miwa Ross Endowed Faculty Position, Leja will use the endowment’s support to further his analysis of the first very deep surveys with the James Webb Space Telescope, discovering and characterizing galaxies formed in the first few billion years of the Universe. Access to the data gathered by the telescope has helped Leja to investigate the brightest gamma-ray burst ever recorded and its potential as a birthplace for heavy elements, some of the earliest starlight in the universe and evidence of massive galaxies dating back more than 13 billion years.
As the author or co-author of over a hundred scientific papers in journals such as the Astrophysical Journal, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, and Nature, Leja was named a Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher in 2023, honoring those in the top 1% of cited researchers in astrophysics. He was awarded Yale University's Brouwer Prize in 2019 for a doctoral thesis of unusual merit. Prior to joining the faculty at Penn State, Leja was a postdoctoral researcher at the Center for Astrophysics of Harvard University and the Smithsonian.
“I am truly grateful for this generous gift and the impact it will have on our mission of research, education and outreach in the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics and the Eberly College of Science, and at Penn State,” said Leja. “Lee and I first connected at the college’s Ashtekar Frontiers of Science Lectures, and I am glad that this public outreach effort helped to draw attention to the work that is happening at Penn State. The universe is the world’s biggest laboratory, both awesome and inspiring, and this support will help us continue pushing the bounds of knowledge.”
Gifts like the Lee M. Hammarstrom-Dr. Keiko Miwa Ross Endowed Faculty Position advance the University’s historic land-grant mission to serve and lead. Through philanthropy, alumni and friends are helping students to join the Penn State family and prepare for lifelong success; driving research, outreach and economic development that grow our shared strength and readiness for the future; and increasing the University’s impact for families, patients and communities across the commonwealth and around the world. Learn more by visiting raise.psu.edu.