BOSTON SCIENTIFIC FUNDS UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA ENGINEERING FELLOWSHIP

Boston Scientific has contributed $500,000 to the University of Minnesota Foundation to establish a Boston Scientific Biomedical Engineering Fellowship Fund.

The fund will help support new full-time graduate students in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, a department within the university's Institute of Technology. "This gift from Boston Scientific is a critical first step in our goal to continue to attract the best and brightest biomedical engineering students to the University of Minnesota," said Bob Tranquillo, head of the Department of Biomedical Engineering.

Boston Scientific's contribution, which will be spread over five years, is a lead gift in a campaign to create an endowment designed ultimately to support the entire class of first-year biomedical engineering graduate students each fall, the firm said. About a third of the contribution will be used immediately for graduate fellowships, while the remainder will be placed in an endowment to earn interest and fund fellowships over time. The university's goal over five years is to raise $2 million for biomedical engineering fellowships. These funds will be matched by the University Foundation to create a $4 million endowment.

"Boston Scientific is committed to supporting the development of tomorrow's scientists, engineers and mathematicians," said Fred Colen, executive vice president and chief technology officer at Boston Scientific. "These same students might some day develop medical technologies that could help save or improve the lives of patients around the globe."