Hertz and its independent foundation will jointly sponsor a 2019 Hertz Foundation Fellow. This is the first partnership between the company and the foundation established by John Hertz.

John Hertz – the name identified with The Hertz Corporation – created a foundation with the mission to advance groundbreaking applied science and engineering that would benefit the country and humanity.

The Hertz Foundation Fellowship empowers young scientists, engineers, and mathematicians by granting five-year PhD fellowships that offer freedom to pursue innovative research wherever it may lead. With this grant, The Hertz Corporation will provide $250,000 to ensure that a fellow’s research is fully funded for five years.

The company joins the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Google, Draper, and hundreds of individuals in supporting the most prestigious graduate fellowship in the United States.

The recipient of the first Hertz Corporation Fellowship is Bailey Flanigan, a 2019 Hertz Foundation Fellow who recently graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a degree in biomedical engineering. Bailey will start her graduate studies in theoretical computer science at Carnegie Mellon University this fall.

The Fannie and John Hertz Foundation and The Hertz Corporation trace their roots to John D. Hertz, the entrepreneurial Hungarian immigrant who changed transportation in the United States through his businesses, which made car travel more accessible and affordable. With the founding of the Hertz Foundation in 1957, he passionately supported the critical early-stage research endeavors of science, engineering, and mathematics students who possess the potential to change our world for the better by solving difficult, real-world problems. John Hertz and his wife donated most of their fortune to the foundation.