Gifts & Grants

Gifts and Grants


Thank you Donor Image

Thanks to funding from the National Science Foundation, Yu Panglin Charitable Trust, Weiming Education (Hong Kong) Limited, Alvin I.& Peggy S. Brown Family Charitable Foundation, EPIC is dedicated to deepening our understanding of failure and identifying strategies for persisting and triumphing over adversity.

Our Donors

  • Image of National Science Foundation

    National Science Foundation

    The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency created by Congress in 1950 “to promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare; to secure the national defense…” NSF is vital because we support basic research and people to create knowledge that transforms the future. NSF is tasked with keeping the United States at the leading edge of discovery in a wide range of scientific areas. So, in addition to funding research in the traditional academic areas, the agency also supports “high risk, high pay off” ideas, novel collaborations and numerous projects that may seem like science fiction today, but which the public will take for granted tomorrow.

  • Profile image of Yu Panglin

    Yu Panglin Charitable Trust

    The Yu Panglin Charitable Trust was established in 2003 by the late billionaire real estate magnate Mr. Yu Panglin as a private foundation to support education, health, and social welfare in China. Since its founding, the Charitable trust has helped to restore sight to more than 440.000 cataract patients, provided disaster relief, and funded education opportunities for thousands of students. Its gift to Teachers College, which will support the Education for Persistence in Innovation Center’s research, public outreach, and the Yu Panglin Distinguished Lecture Series, represents the foundation’s first philanthropic commitment outside of China.

  • Profile image of Alvin Brown

    Alvin I. & Peggy S. Brown Family Foundation

    The Foundation believes that shaping children through education is the key to a bright future. Although never attending college himself, Mr. Alvin Brown was a self-taught man who drew great strength from failure. The Foundation is dedicated to supporting EPIC in its mission to learn from mistakes with compassion and using failure as a valuable resource for personal growth and better decision-making. Along with its generous contribution to Teachers College, the Foundation has funded many other educational endeavors.

  • Profile image of Paul Peterson

    Wiss & Company, LLP Accountants & Consultants

    Wiss is the go-to accounting and growth partner for more than five thousand private companies. Their right-sized solutions range from tax, audit, and law firm services to comprehensive business advisory including staffing, mergers, acquisitions, and personal finance consulting. Paul Peterson is a Managing Partner of Wiss & Company who leads the Firm’s long term strategy. The Company’s gift to Teachers College will support the research activities and scholarship of EPIC, which focuses on understanding, evaluating, and predicting success and failure of employees in business.

Background Image: Einstein Background

Research Spotlight: “Even Einstein Struggled

Students’ beliefs that success in science depends on exceptional talent negatively impact their motivation to learn. For example, such beliefs have been shown to be a major factor steering students away from taking science and math courses in high school and college. In the present study, we tested a novel story-based instruction that models how scientists achieve through failures and struggles.

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