An Indian-origin couple has donated $20 million to the University of North Texas (UNT) to support studies in artificial intelligence and advanced analytics, according to a press statement. The gift, made by Anuradha and Vikas Sinha, will establish the Anuradha and Vikas Sinha College of Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Analytics, which will serve as an academic and research hub focused on AI, intelligent systems, and data analytics.

The Sinhas’ investment in UNT has grown alongside their involvement with the university. 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. The $20 million gift will establish six permanent endowments supporting college leadership, student scholarships, endowed professorships, entrepreneurship and incubation, advanced research and emerging technologies.

Vikas Sinha, who earned his PhD from UNT in 2023, emphasized the importance of education in shaping opportunities. "Education has opened doors for us throughout our lives, and we want to hold those doors open for others," he said. "For us, this gift is about paying that opportunity forward and recognizing that immigrants don’t simply participate in the American dream – they help build it," he added.

UNT President Harrison Keller highlighted the significance of the gift in advancing the university’s strategic goals. "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," Keller said. The college will be organized around two academic divisions: Division of Applied Intelligence and Informatics, focused on building and deploying intelligent systems; and Division of Information and Learning Applications, focused on how information and intelligent systems operate within human and institutional contexts.

The Sinhas, who studied civil engineering in India before coming to the United States for advanced education, have also served on the UNT College of Information Leadership Board since 2023. Vikas currently serves as vice president of the Mainframe Software Division at Broadcom. The gift will 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 a university event later this year. The University of North Texas is a public research university and the largest university in Dallas-Fort Worth, serving nearly 44,000 students with 230 degree programmes. It awarded more than 13,000 degrees last year.