Indian-origin couple gift $20 million to UNT for new AI and analytics college
Anuradha and Vikas Sinha have donated $20 million to the University of North Texas to establish a college focused on artificial intelligence and advanced analytics.
An Indian-origin couple has donated $20 million to the University of North Texas (UNT), their alma mater, to establish a college dedicated to artificial intelligence and advanced analytics.
The gift from Anuradha and Vikas Sinha will create the Anuradha and Vikas Sinha College of Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Analytics, which will serve as an academic and research hub bringing together expertise in AI, intelligent systems, cybersecurity, data science, advanced analytics, health informatics, information science, library science and learning technologies.
The college will be organised around 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 within human and institutional contexts. It will also house the Applied Artificial Intelligence and Data Science Institute, which is intended to connect AI and analytics research across the university and create opportunities for interdisciplinary work, shared infrastructure, external research funding and industry partnerships.
The $20 million will establish six permanent endowments supporting college leadership, student scholarships, endowed professorships, entrepreneurship and incubation, advanced research and emerging technologies.
Vikas Sinha said education had opened doors for the couple throughout their lives and that they wanted to hold those doors open for others. "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," he 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."
He added that universities have an essential role in preparing the people who will shape the future of artificial intelligence. "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 said.
The couple's involvement with UNT has deepened over time. 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.
After studying civil engineering at Sri Venkateswara University and at G. Pulla Reddy Engineering College in Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh, Vikas and Anuradha Sinha moved to the United States for advanced education, earning graduate degrees from Florida Atlantic University. Vikas later continued his education at Northwestern University before earning his PhD from the University of North Texas in 2023. He now serves as vice president of the Mainframe Software Division at Broadcom and has been on the UNT College of Information Leadership Board since 2023.
UNT President Harrison Keller said artificial intelligence is rapidly changing how people work, conduct research and solve problems, and that universities have an important responsibility to help shape what comes next. He said the new college positions UNT to lead in that work and that the couple's commitment will create new opportunities for students and faculty while advancing priorities of the university's Look North: UNT 2030 strategic plan, including reshaping how students are prepared for a changing labour market and accelerating interdisciplinary research and innovation.
The gift is expected to advance UNT's goals around student success, research and innovation while helping prepare graduates for a workforce increasingly shaped by AI and data. The university will celebrate the naming of the college with an event later this year.
UNT is a public research university and the largest in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Through its campuses in Denton and Frisco, Texas, it serves nearly 44,000 students across 230 degree programmes and awarded more than 13,000 degrees last year.