A new graduate fellowship in evolutionary biology at Chicago (named partly after a duck)

I revised my will about three weeks ago, as I realized that two of my impecunious friends to whom I was leaving money were dead. (Don’t worry–I’m fine!) Plus some of the charities to which I’d pledged money were no longer appealing to me (that means you, Doctors Without Borders), so I found a passel of other charities, vetted by Peter Singer’s “The Life You Can Save” site and Charity Navigator, to replace them. I won’t go into details save to say that what I leave will go in general to four causes:  helping the poor in third-world countries, especially with sanitation and medical care for children, ensuring education for women in poor countries, conservation effected through buying up habitat for wildlife and plants, and conservation effected by helping animals (this does of course include big cats!).

When I made my list and handed it to the lawyer, I discovered I still had a chunk o’ cash left, and pondered what I should do with it.  I’ve lived pretty penuriously and don’t have any luxuries, and the last thing I’d need would be something pricey like a luxury car. My only indulgences are travel and wine.

And then I had an idea: create a graduate fellowship for Ph.D. students who need research money in evolutionary biology. If I started that while I was still alive, I could actually see the results as they played out in real time: research would be done and truth found.  Then I had an even better idea: if the fellowship were named after me, I could add the name that of my favorite mallard: Honey the Duck.  After checking with the University, I found out that I not only had enough to endow a decent fellowship in perpetuity, but they would also allow me to add Honey’s name!

And that is how the Jerry Coyne/Honey the Duck Evolutionary Biology Research Fund came to be. To wit (this is part of a three-page agreement). Click to enlarge:

For Chicago grad students who would like to tap into this dosh, I’ll say a few words. The money will increase over time from $5000 the first year to around $25,000 per year in perpetuity after 2030.  I intend it to go, as the note says above, for research expenses in evolutionary biology studies that involve whole organisms. This reflects my own interests when I was active and is aimed at keeping organismal evolutionary biology (which can of course also involve behavior, molecular work, and so on) alive in the department.  But whole organisms have to be involved in some way. These details may be refined when I make up the application for the money, as it’s a competitive process.

More than one student may be funded per year, and once the money is allotted, it will be there until the student gets their Ph.D. Leftover cash will be returned to the fund.  Only students who have passed their prelims, and are thus official candidates for the doctorate, can apply, and I hope the first applications will be handed out in the early fall.

One other thing: once the money is in the hands of the Division (only students in the Division of Biological Science [BSD] can apply), my role ends, as it should. I will have no hand in choosing students who get funded: that will be done by a committee appointed by our chairman. That’s appropriate because the field changes over time and I am retired.

I’m giving these details just so students know that next fall there will be a new pot of money to fund research. I also love the fact that I can name the fund after both myself and Honey the Duck: faithful companions for several years. There is too little humor in science, and I wonder if this is the first graduate fellowship in history to be named after a duck.

Here are two pictures: my favorite one of Honey, and the second of me feeding Honey by hand during the pandemic (I was outside and the campus was empty, ergo the pulled-down mask).  I will try to put these photos on the application. Evolutionary Biology students in the BSD should watch for an announcement by the Higher Ups.

One of the best parts of it all is that Honey and I will be immortalized together–or at least linked together until there is no more evolutionary biology at the University of Chicago.

Quack!

Addendum: from reader Bill with the help of Grok 3