Houston philanthropists Rich and Nancy Kinder today announced a $15 million gift to Rice University to support expanded research in Houston and in major cities around the world by Rice's Institute for Urban Research. The institute will be renamed the Kinder Institute for Urban Research in their honor.

"Thanks to the vision and generosity of Rich and Nancy Kinder, the Institute for Urban Research has the resources, leadership and academic strength to become the leading center for the study of the changing demographics and broader social issues facing all major urban areas," Rice President David Leebron said. "With this support, we can take another major step toward fulfilling our goal of being fully engaged with our home city of Houston, as well as serve as the locus of an international discussion of emerging urban issues."

Leebron noted that the majority of the world's population now lives in cities, which makes the gift to the institute especially timely.

The gift will support a number of research initiatives, including:

Rice established the Institute for Urban Research in its School of Social Sciences in February by bringing together two existing centers: the Center on Race, Religion and Urban Life and the Urban Research Center. Rice sociology professors Stephen Klineberg and Michael Emerson co-direct the institute, whose mission is to conduct scientific research, sponsor educational programs and engage in public outreach that advances understanding of pressing urban issues and fosters the development of more humane and sustainable cities.

Rich and Nancy Kinder co-founded the Kinder Foundation to support education, urban green space and other quality-of-life issues.

Klineberg and Emerson call the Kinders' gift "transformative." The goal, they said, is to build the institute into a magnet for talent, a catalyst for civic engagement and an internationally recognized leader both in conducting urban research and in translating its findings into a resource that informs and inspires the communities on which the research is based.

"A major commitment of the Kinder Institute is to provide a permanent home for the Houston Area Survey to ensure that it will continue well into the future," Klineberg said. The institute plans to raise funds to establish an endowed professorship in urban research -- a position that would have the responsibility to continue the survey and help to guide the institute's broader research agenda, he said.

Rice Social Sciences Dean Lyn Ragsdale noted that, in addition to training students in modern social research methodologies, the Kinder Institute also will develop interdisciplinary academic programs by bringing together scholars with shared interests.

For more information on the institute, visit http://kinderinstitute.rice.edu.