Indian American couple's $20 million gift fuels AI and data science push at University of North Texas

Highlights:

• Anuradha and Vikas Sinha have gifted $20 million to their alma mater, the University of North Texas.
• The donation establishes the Anuradha and Vikas Sinha College of Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Analytics.
• The gift will fund six permanent endowments covering scholarships, professorships, research and incubation.
• The couple previously funded the Sinha Department of Data Science and the Sinha Innovation Lab for Data Science.
• Both Sinhas moved to the US from Andhra Pradesh for graduate studies before rising to leadership roles in tech.

A COUPLE has donated $20 million to its alma mater in Texas, supporting studies on artificial intelligence and advanced analytics at the institute.

Anuradha and Vikas Sinha gifted the funds to the University of North Texas (UNT), with a focus on artificial intelligence and advanced analytics, a statement said.

In 2024, they 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.

Vikas said artificial intelligence will be one of the defining technologies of this generation, and universities can help prepare the people who will shape its future.

Building on prior investment

"What excites us about UNT's vision is that it 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 added.

The $20m gift will establish six permanent endowments: student leadership, student scholarships, endowed professorships, entrepreneurship and incubation, advanced research and emerging technologies.

After graduating from Sri Venkateswara University and G Pulla Reddy Engineering College in Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh, Vikas and Anuradha moved to the US for higher education.

From Andhra Pradesh to academia

He now serves as vice president of the Mainframe Software Division at Broadcom and has served on the UNT College of Information Leadership Board since 2023.

"Vikas and Anuradha'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 labour market, accelerating interdisciplinary research and innovation and creating enduring value for North Texas and the state," Keller said.

UNT will celebrate the naming of the college with a university event later this year, the statement said.

The University of North Texas is a public research university and the largest university in Dallas-Fort Worth.

Through its campuses in Denton and Frisco, Texas, UNT serves nearly 44,000 students and 230 degree programmes; it awarded more than 13,000 degrees last year.