Aziz Sancar, the UNC professor who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry this year, is under contract with the Nobel Foundation to donate the entire share of his award money to the Aziz & Gwen Sancar Foundation of Chapel Hill, the university announced Friday.

Sancar is from Turkey and has been at UNC since 1982, along with his wife Gwen.

Their foundation bought a house on Franklin Street several years ago to help create a cultural center close to campus, according to UNC. Sancar said in a release this idea dates back to his days as a graduate student.

“The day I stepped off the airplane in Dallas, I essentially saw the need for such houses on college campuses and promised myself to eventually dedicate my resources to a project of this kind.”

The center provides housing for Turkish researches at UNC, as well as short-term guest services for Turkish visiting scholars. UNC says it currently hosts approximately 100 Turkish students and scholars.

Sancar said the foundation also aims to promote a cultural exchange between Turkey and the United States.

“I believe strongly that we are all more similar than we are different,” Sancar said. “If we take the time or have the opportunity to learn about one another – to promote friendship and understanding – then we won’t have as many conflicts in our personal lives or between nations.”

Sancar donated the original Nobel Prize medal to Turkey to be displayed at the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey and the country’s first president.

Sancar’s total prize money exceeds $310,000. He splits the award with Duke’s Paul Modrich and Thomas Lindahl of the Francis Crick Institute.

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