Indian-origin engineer couple Anuradha and Vikas Sinha have made a transformative $20 million donation to the University of North Texas, establishing a new College of Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Analytics to advance AI education and research.
Key Points
- Indian-origin engineer couple, Anuradha and Vikas Sinha, donated $20 million to the University of North Texas.
- The donation establishes the Anuradha and Vikas Sinha College of Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Analytics.
- The new college will focus on building intelligent systems and understanding their societal impact.
- The gift supports scholarships, professorships, research, and entrepreneurship, fostering future AI leaders.
- Vikas Sinha, a UNT alumnus, emphasised the role of immigrants in building the American dream through education.
An engineer couple of Indian origin made a $20 million donation to the University of North Texas to set up a college of artificial intelligence and advanced analytics, setting an example of immigrant participation in building the American dream.
The Anuradha and Vikas Sinha College of Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Analytics will create new opportunities for students and faculty, the University of North Texas (UNT) said in a statement.
Advancing AI Education And Research
The college will be organised around the Division of Applied Intelligence and Informatics, focused on building and deploying intelligent systems, and the Division of Information and Learning Applications, focused on how information and intelligent systems operate within human and institutional contexts.
"For us, this gift is about paying that opportunity forward and recognizing that immigrants don't simply participate in the American dream - they help build it," Vikas Sinha, Vice President, Broadcom, said.
The gift will establish six permanent endowments supporting college leadership, student scholarships, endowed professorships, entrepreneurship and incubation, advanced research and emerging technologies.
A Commitment To Opportunity And Innovation
"Education has opened doors for us throughout our lives, and we want to hold those doors open for others," Sinha said.
"Vikas and Anu's commitment will create new opportunities for our students and faculty to build, study and apply these technologies while advancing central priorities of our Look North: UNT 2030 strategic plan - reshaping how we prepare students for a changing labor market, accelerating interdisciplinary research and innovation, and creating enduring value for North Texas and the state," said UNT President Harrison Keller.
Vikas and Anuradha came to the United States from India to continue their education after each earning a bachelor's degree in civil engineering from Sri Venkateswara University.
They both earned graduate degrees from Florida Atlantic University, with Vikas going on to Northwestern University before earning his Ph.D. from UNT in 2023.
"It is a large part of why Anu and I believe so strongly in what UNT can make possible for students - including those who may come here from another country carrying the same ambition and belief in education that we once did," Vikas said.
Shaping The Future Of Intelligent Systems
The College will serve as an academic and research hub focused on artificial intelligence, intelligent systems and data analytics.
It will bring together expertise in areas including AI, cybersecurity, data science, advanced analytics, health informatics, information science, library science and learning technologies.
"Artificial intelligence will be one of the defining technologies of our generation, and universities have an essential role to play in preparing the people who will shape its future," Vikas Sinha said.
"What excites us about UNT's vision is that this college will go beyond teaching students how to use AI. It will prepare them to build it, understand it, question it, govern it and apply it responsibly - developing both the builders and the stewards of intelligent systems," he said.
The college also will house the Applied Artificial Intelligence and Data Science Institute, which will connect AI and analytics research and education across UNT and create opportunities for interdisciplinary research, shared infrastructure, external research funding and industry partnerships.
Impact On Workforce And Research
In 2024, the Sinhas gave a gift establishing the Anuradha and Vikas Sinha Department of Data Science, along with endowments supporting scholarships, faculty, research and special initiatives.
A year later, they made another major gift, creating the Sinha Innovation Lab for Data Science.
The gift will advance UNT's goals around student success, research and innovation while helping prepare graduates for a workforce increasingly shaped by AI and data.
