The arc of Sandy Stewart’s career sounds like something from a movie. In the late 1970s, with dreams of becoming a scientist, Stewart CCAS’81, GSC’87 offered to sweep floors and wash glassware in Henry Stempen’s immunology lab at Rutgers University–Camden. Eventually, Stempen let him do some experiments, and Stewart quickly made a breakthrough discovery about fungi and how they attach to corn leaves. The experience “changed my life,” says Stewart, who coauthored a paper with Stempen on the finding. Stewart went on to earn a master’s degree in biology from Rutgers, began a successful career at Novartis Pharmaceuticals in North Carolina, and founded several biotech companies. Active on Rutgers boards since 2006, Stewart currently serves as chair of the Rutgers Board of Governors and is the first Rutgers–Camden graduate to lead the universitywide governing body. Through it all, Stewart never lost sight of how important his early experience was. “That’s why I started the undergraduate research endowment,” he says. “I want other students to have that opportunity to do research.” His new $2.5 million bequest intention—the Sandy J. Stewart Equipment and Instruments Endowed Fund—will give Rutgers–Camden students access to the caliber of equipment used in leading labs. Conducting research with mass spectrometers, gene sequencers, and other sophisticated tools will give Camden graduates an advantage in the job market. “I got a great education,” he says. “Maybe I’ll help change somebody else’s life the way Rutgers–Camden changed mine.”