Thanks to a $5 million pledge from local philanthropists Warren and Chris Hellman, some of the University of California at San Francisco's most promising junior faculty members won't have to let their relatively low-level status hurt them when it comes to getting research money, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

The new Hellman Faculty Fund will give out $500,000 a year to support research projects by nontenured UCSF faculty members. The money will be used to keep the projects running until funding can be secured from outside sources.

In a statement to the Chronicle, Warren Hellman said he and his wife had been considering such a gift for a long time.

"We made the decision now because we want to support the outstanding young researchers at UCSF and we also want to give this world class university a morale boost," Hellman told the Chronicle.

The Hellmans have helped before. In 1995, they established a similar fund at Warren Hellman's alma mater, the University of California at Berkeley, the Chronicle reports.

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