Indian-Origin Couple Donates $20 Million to Create AI College at University of North Texas

Washington — An Indian-origin couple has donated $20 million to the University of North Texas to establish a new college focused on artificial intelligence and advanced analytics.

The university said the new Anuradha and Vikas Sinha College of Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Analytics will focus on the development, application and responsible use of artificial intelligence, intelligent systems and data analytics.

The gift will establish six permanent endowments supporting college leadership, student scholarships, professorships, entrepreneurship and incubation, advanced research and emerging technologies.

The college will bring together programs in artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, data science, advanced analytics, health informatics, information science, library science and learning technologies. It will also connect faculty and students across disciplines through shared infrastructure, collaborative research and industry partnerships.

“Anu and I see this as an investment in what students will be able to imagine and accomplish in the years ahead,” Vikas Sinha said.

He said the college would 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.”

The college will have two academic divisions. The Division of Applied Intelligence and Informatics will focus on building and deploying intelligent systems, while the Division of Information and Learning Applications will examine how information and intelligent systems operate in human and institutional settings.

UNT also plans to establish an Applied Artificial Intelligence and Data Science Institute to connect AI and analytics research and education across the university. The institute is expected to support interdisciplinary research, shared infrastructure, external funding and industry partnerships.

“Artificial intelligence is rapidly changing how we work, conduct research and solve problems, and universities have an important responsibility to help shape what comes next,” UNT President Harrison Keller said.

Anuradha and Vikas Sinha came to the United States from India after earning bachelor’s degrees in civil engineering from Sri Venkateswara University. Both later earned graduate degrees from Florida Atlantic University.

Vikas Sinha later attended Northwestern University and received a Ph.D. in information science from UNT in 2023. He is vice president of Broadcom’s Mainframe Software Division and has served on the UNT College of Information Leadership Board since 2023.

“Education has opened doors for us throughout our lives, and we want to hold those doors open for others,” Sinha said.

“For us, this gift is about paying that opportunity forward and recognising that immigrants don’t simply participate in the American dream — they help build it.”

The donation builds on the couple’s earlier support for UNT. In 2024, they helped establish the Anuradha and Vikas Sinha Department of Data Science and related endowments. The following year, they made another major gift to create the Sinha Innovation Lab for Data Science.

UNT is a public research university based in Denton, Texas, north of Dallas. Founded in 1890, it is part of the University of North Texas System. (Source: IANS)