Good Soil Foundation Establishes MIT Scholarship
Good Soil Foundation, a Singapore-based charitable foundation, has formally established the MIT-Good Soil Foundation Scholarship Fund at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. With an annual contribution of US$100,000, the foundation will support young people in their education and growth. In giving to a university that nurtures future scientists and engineers, we hold a simple hope: as these students learn to change the world through science, they will also come to understand the lives of others—and bring that understanding into their research and design.
The work of MIT researcher Hugh Herr offers a glimpse of what this can mean. After losing both legs following a climbing accident, Herr went on to pursue research in bionic limbs. In 2013, dancer Adrianne Haslet-Davis lost part of her left leg in the Boston Marathon bombing. After hearing her story, Herr and his team set out to build a prosthetic limb that would help her dance again. Over the next 200 days, they studied how dancers stepped, turned and shifted their weight, gradually incorporating the mechanics of dance into the design.
The following year, Adrianne returned to the stage in her dancing shoes and performed a rumba with her partner. Inside one white shoe was the bionic limb the team had built for her, carrying her hope of dancing again. Her love of dance had become part of their research—and their research had helped her return to the life she loved. Stories like hers show how empathy can give science a fresh perspective, helping researchers see beyond function to what a person cherishes and hopes to regain.
We hope future scientists and engineers will bring this same understanding to their work. When designing an assistive device, they might consider whether its user can leave home comfortably and confidently. When developing medical equipment, they might ask whether an ordinary family can afford it. Such questions often grow out of time spent with others. The difficulties they have listened to and the lives they have come to know may one day prompt them to notice another detail or try another approach.
Through NextGen, our programme for the next generation of philanthropic leaders, alongside projects in the arts and humanities, Good Soil Foundation has helped young people learn about society, understand others and turn concern into action. We now hope to extend that support into fields our own programmes have yet to explore in depth. Science and engineering require years of rigorous training. Working with MIT allows us to support young people on these paths as they learn to translate a desire to serve into meaningful contributions within their fields.
The scholarship will therefore give preference to students in science and engineering, particularly those who founded, led or made significant contributions to community service or social impact initiatives during high school. They should demonstrate initiative, leadership and a sustained commitment to serving others. We value these experiences because, even before choosing a path for themselves, these young people have already chosen to give their time to others and take action. In its letter of thanks, MIT noted that this preference aligns closely with its core mission of educating students who are passionate about bettering the world.
At Good Soil Foundation, we believe that nurturing a young person is like tending a seed. We cannot know where it will reach, but we can help prepare the soil in which it grows. Years from now, today’s support may take the form of a more thoughtful product, a more accessible treatment or a chance for someone to return to a familiar life. That may be where this seed bears fruit.
We welcome friends to share this news with young people who dream of studying at MIT and have been active in community service during high school. May they enter university with a love of science, and carry their care for others into all that follows.