Endowment of a Lifetime
One graduate student embarks on a life's work
Like most people who live in San Diego, Xiaoyu Zou is all about “good vibes,” as well as geophysical vibrations! A PhD student at Scripps Institution of Oceanography’s Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, Xiaoyu helps create algorithms to identify linear patterns from earthquake location data. He hopes to better understand the strength of the Earth’s lithosphere, which is closely related with how likely earthquakes will happen and how large they could be.
“I’m planning to present my research at the American Geophysical Union conference this year, which will be my first conference presentation in my PhD career,” says Xiaoyu.
When Scripps oceanographer and physicist, Dr. Theodore R. Folsom ’52 and his wife, Dr. Edith Folsom, established the T.R. & Edith Folsom Graduate Endowment Fellowship through a planned gift in 1988, they were already longtime supporters of the marine sciences and like family to Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Their legacy gift now generates over $70,000 each year in fellowship support.
Edith and Theodore both earned their PhDs in 1952 – Edith from UCLA and Theodore from a joint program at Scripps Institution and UCLA. Theodore then embarked on a career at Scripps, and the couple’s early philanthropy supported visiting scholars, building restoration, and the UC San Diego library and collections. Their vision of a fellowship, specifically for students studying physical oceanography, geochemistry or geophysics, took shape over three decades ago and is still having an impact on the lives of our brightest researchers today.
Xiaoyu is grateful for the Folsom endowment and the forward-thinking generosity of the family that inspired it. As a first-year Folsom fellow, he is just beginning his journey toward a research career in geophysics and he has thrown himself into his classes, eager to absorb as much as possible from his faculty mentor and research colleagues. When he’s not researching planetary activity or contemplating the future of his life’s work, Xiaoyu can be found admiring “the sapphire ocean and burning red sunsets from La Jolla Shores” and enjoying the good vibes.
Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics
The Cecil H. and Ida M. Green Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics is a division of Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego.