UCI gains donation of $20 million

Marisa O’Neil

An anonymous donor has given $20 million to the School of Information

and Computer Science, matching the largest single contribution ever

to the university.

The gift will create 10 endowed faculty positions -- the most ever

from one contribution -- in the nationally ranked school, UCI

officials said Tuesday. It will cover information technology research

including software, hardware, bioinformatics and data analysis.

“This is a great day for [the School of Information and Computer

Science],” said Debra Richardson, the school’s dean. “We’ve come a

long way lately. The university has invested a lot, we’ve improved

quite a bit in size and research dollars and this gift will give us

the margin of excellence to move into the top ranks nationally.”

More than $18 million will fund the new positions, which UCI hopes

to fill with top-notch researchers. The rest will go toward further

research school-wide and educational programs that UCI Chancellor

Ralph Cicerone hopes will make the school one of the most renowned in

the country.

“I think [the effects] will also be felt in area industry,”

Cicerone said. “It will enable research to get started faster here

that otherwise wouldn’t happen. We’ll be able to support more

students and more research projects, which will make graduates more

attractive to employers in the area because they will be working at

the forefront [of the industry.] I think it’s great for the whole

area.”

Initially, Richardson said, the school will seek faculty members

who work with “ubiquitous computing,” technology that is in people’s

every day lives whether or not they realize it, like microprocessors

in automobiles.

“As the field changes, we will be able to change where we are

recruiting,” Richardson said. “That enables us to become a leader in

information technology and computer science and get some top scholars

who directing the field and doing research that is on that cutting

edge of computer science.”

The school, which opened one year ago, has since made a name for

itself, ranking among the top 15 public computer science graduate

programs in US News and World Report and the top 10 information

technology programs by eWeek Magazine.

In 1999, Broadcom Corp. co-founder Henry Samueli and his wife,

Susan, donated the university’s other $20-million gift, to what is

now known as the Henry Samueli School of Engineering. The Samuelis

donated an additional $30 million to UCLA at the same time.

Last week, UCI also announced a study funded by a $3-million

National Institutes of Health grant. The research, headed by Dr.

Ralph Delfino, will be the nation’s first public health study to

understand how ultrafine particles in urban air pollution contribute

to coronary heart disease in the elderly.

* ALICIA ROBINSON covers business, politics and the environment.

She can be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail at

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