The MU Department of Biochemistry received a $1.1 million gift that will fund a new faculty chair in biochemistry on Friday.
MU alumnus Lowell Miller has made the gift to provide a yearly income that the individual can use to enhance his or her research program.
The gift will help MU compete with other top universities in attracting and retaining elite faculty.
Biochemistry department chair Gerald Hazelbauer said the funding will impact the university in a positive way.
"It helps us to keep the best and brightest and to recruit the best and brightest by having this extra resource that could be offered to such an individual," Hazelbauer said.
He said there are various types of research that will come out of the funding.
“It can be in an area that impacts human health, it can be in an area that impacts issues of crops or animals, it could be all of those things combined when you look at very fundamental issues.”
Miller is a long-time supporter of the university.