WASHINGTON, DC.- A $5 million gift from Gretchen Welch and Career Ambassador David Welch to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art has endowed the leadership position in the museum’s Department of Conservation and Scientific Research. This endowment will support the newly named Welch Head of Conservation and Scientific Research. The endowed position will help ensure that the department maintains its longstanding excellence and scholarship in the field and continues to advance conservation and scientific research worldwide. As the foremost center in the United States for the care and scientific study of the arts of Asia, the department plays an important role in preserving cultural heritage, bringing new insights to historic objects and training the next generation of conservators.