A University of North Texas alumnus and his wife have given UNT a $20 million gift to launch a new college centered on artificial intelligence and advanced data analysis.
On Tuesday, UNT officials said they believe the gift and the new college will lift the university’s profile in one of the most competitive areas that higher education is scrambling to meet and fulfill.
Scholars and investors believe that artificial intelligence and data analysis are set to recontour industry and consumer behavior.
UNT means to prepare students to step into careers that demand their fluency in AI, and cultivate the leaders and innovators who will use AI to invent and influence everything from the market to politics.
“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 in a statement.
The couple behind the gift
Vikas Sinha and his wife, Anuradha, made what UNT officials have called a “transformational gift” that Keller said aligns with the campus’ Look North: UNT 2030 strategic plan.
Vikas Sinha graduated from UNT with a doctorate in 2023. He and Anuradha both made education a priority, each earning a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering at Sri Venkateswara University in southern India.
Vikas Sinha and now serves as vice president of the Mainframe Software Division at Broadcom. He has served on the UNT College of Information Leadership Board since 2023.
The Sinhas started sharing their wealth with UNT in 2024, when they gave a gift founding the Anuradha and Vikas Sinha Department of Data Science. The department currently offers bachelor’s, masters and doctoral degrees in data science — a program that prepares students to work in everything from data management to video game design.
Last year, the Sinhas made another gift, which launched the Sinha Data Science Innovation Lab, where faculty and students research data science theory, AI and machine learning. The lab is also meant to connect the research lab with industry, translating college coursework to careers in technology.
“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 at an event recognizing the donation earlier this month. “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. 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.”
What the gift will do
Their gift establishes the Anuradha and Vikas Sinha College of Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Analytics. Through the new college, the gift will seed some durable initiatives.
The college will include six permanent endowments. Those endowments will sustain the sort of work that make UNT’s Tier 1 research both deeper and broader, according to information released Tuesday.
They will support college leadership, feed scholarships and endowed professorships, and fuel market and business incubation. The endowments will also advance research and emerging technologies.
“A lot of the students who go through this are not only going to be relevant to the job market, they’re going to steer where the job market goes,” Vikas Sinha said.
“They’re going to steer where industries are headed. Some of them are going to create industries we don’t know of today.”
An investment during uncertain times
The Sinhas’ support comes as both state and federal lawmakers have taken a more skeptical and, at times, hostile view of immigration.
In August, Gov. Greg Abbott proposed extending the state’s crackdown on visas given to international students in an effort to limit what lawmakers see as undue foreign influence on the Texas education system. The state has already limited public colleges and universities petitions for H-1B visas.
Abbott said he would propose legislation to limit foreign workers who fill critical bilingual teaching positions in school districts.
“We’re tired of the federal government not putting limits on who can come in under H-1Bs, and because of the federal government’s failure to control H-1B visas, Texas is having to put our foot down, and that means making some tough decisions,” Abbott said when announcing the proposals during a campaign stop in Austin.
At the event recognizing the Sinhas, Vikas Sinha extolled the benefits that international students can bring to Texas and the country.
The gift is a demonstration of an immigrant “paying it forward,” he said.
“Both of us came as international students,” he said. “We have lived what one might call the American dream. It’s not just about immigrants living the dream. It’s about immigrants coming and creating the dream. We wanted this to be an example for that.”
Keller agreed.
“International students come to our universities to learn, but their impact extends far beyond the degrees they earn,” Keller said in a statement. “They contribute ideas, build companies, create jobs, lead communities and create opportunities for the generations who follow them. Vikas and Anu’s story is a powerful example of what can begin when a talented student chooses UNT.”
Philanthropy plays a growing role in higher education funding in Texas as the Legislature and Congress reform lending and link publicly funded student loans to future wages and economic growth.
UNT leaders said gifts invest in the future of public universities and industry in North Texas and beyond.
“Vikas and Anu have taken something they believe deeply in — the power of education to change lives — and built a legacy around extending that opportunity to others,” Brandon Buzbee, UNT’s vice president for university advancement, said in a release.
“Their relationship with UNT has continued to grow because their vision has continued to grow. This gift ensures that vision will keep creating opportunities long into the future.”
The new college will also help the university recruit STEM talent and build the reputation of university research faculty members.
