Alumni Couple Establishes New Endowed Chair in Cheminformatics

High school sweethearts Steve and Shelly Heller were part of Stony Brook University's third and fourth graduating classes in 1963 and 1964, respectively. They married the weekend after Shelly graduated and went on to have successful careers shaped by the education they received at Stony Brook. Wanting to give back to the university that laid the foundation for their success and motivated by the state endowment match and Simons Infinity Investment match opportunities, the couple established a new endowed chair at Stony Brook in cheminformatics. But how did this couple from Richmond Hill come to leave their legacy at Stony Brook University?

When the Hellers learned about the New York State and Simons Infinity Investment match opportunities, they knew now was the right time to establish the Dr. Stephen R. Heller Endowed Chair in Cheminformatics. "It's pretty amazing that our gift will be tripled in value," Shelly said. "There are so many opportunities in this world, and we wanted to take advantage of these matches to promote excellence in the field of cheminformatics, data science and STEM."

"This professorship will allow us to support a faculty member to complement Stony Brook's existing strengths in computational chemistry and enhance the research profile of the Department of Chemistry across the country," said David Wrobel, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.

Read more about the Hellers' Stony Brook experience at SB Matters.