UC Irvine Receives $30 Million for Convergent Engineering and Science Building

The University of California, Irvine (UCI) wants to increase its output of large-scale, collaborative and cross-disciplinary research in engineering, computing and physical sciences. The institution plans to build a state-of-the-art convergent engineering and science facility with a $30 million from the Samueli Foundation.

The donation will be combined with $40 million from UCI’s funds and $50 million in state money, adding up to a total budget of $120 million for the up-to-100,000-square-foot facility, according to the announcement. Construction could begin this fall and be completed in three years.

In our strategic plan, we promised growth that makes a difference, and we recommitted ourselves to engaging in the kind of innovative research that could drive regional entrepreneurship and economic development,” Chancellor Howard Gillman said in the statement. “This new facility is essential to accomplish these priorities, and we are thrilled to bring this vision to life.”

Gillman noted that the Samueli Foundation’s gift will serve as “a catalyst for accelerating cross-disciplinary research and scientific innovations that benefit society.” Such research ranges from developing chemical and material sensors to better diagnose and treat cancer to solving cybersecurity challenges, the statement said.

Susan and Henry Samueli.

Image Credit: UCI News.

Henry Samueli, co-founder of semiconductor corporation Broadcom and distinguished adjunct professor at the Henry Samueli School of Engineering at UCI, said that he and his wife, Susan, “are deeply committed to supporting science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education at all levels along the learning pipeline, from kindergarten through higher education.”

Henry and Susan Samueli have been longtime supporters of UCI, having previously donated $20 million to the engineering school in 1999 and making other donations across UCI. In addition to its gift to UCI, the Samueli Foundation donated $20 million to the University of California, Los Angeles to support engineering undergraduate scholarships and internships.

About the Author

Sri Ravipati is Web producer for THE Journal and Campus Technology. She can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • server racks, a human head with a microchip, data pipes, cloud storage, and analytical symbols

    OpenAI, Oracle Expand AI Infrastructure Partnership

    OpenAI and Oracle have announced they will develop an additional 4.5 gigawatts of data center capacity, expanding their artificial intelligence infrastructure partnership as part of the Stargate Project, a joint venture among OpenAI, Oracle, and Japan's SoftBank Group that aims to deploy 10 gigawatts of computing capacity over four years.

  • glowing digital brain interacts with an open book, with stacks of books beside it

    Federal Court Rules AI Training with Copyrighted Books Fair Use

    A federal judge ruled this week that artificial intelligence company Anthropic did not violate copyright law when it used copyrighted books to train its Claude chatbot without author consent, but ordered the company to face trial on allegations it used pirated versions of the books.

  • human figures surrounded by precise arcs with book and gear icons

    Kennedy-King College Rolls Out Holistic Student Support Program

    Chicago's Kennedy-King College is expanding student support services through a collaboration between City Colleges of Chicago and One Million Degrees (OMD), a Chicago-based nonprofit serving low-income community college students.

  • AI assistant represented by a glowing blue humanoid figure in front of a laptop, surrounded by interconnected network nodes and data servers

    Network to Code Launches AI Assistant for Enterprise Network Teams

    Network automation firm Network to Code has launched NautobotGPT, an AI-powered assistant aimed at helping enterprise network engineers create, test, and troubleshoot automation tasks more efficiently.