BERKELEY — A $252 million donation to the University of California Berkeley will begin the construction of a computing and data-science “data hub” to house research and teaching in one of the university’s fastest-growing fields.
The gift is the single largest in the university’s history and news of the donation comes as Cal launches a $6 billion fundraising campaign.
In a statement Saturday, the university said an area north of Koshland Hall at the intersection of Hearst Avenue, Arch Street and MacFarlane Lane will be a new home for its division of computing, data science and society (CDSS). Officials took an optimistic, forward-looking approach to the donation’s potential to foster new academic achievements.
“The Data Hub will be a magnet, bringing together scholars from disciplines across campus to forge new collaborations and take on some of the most critical questions facing society today, from biomedicine, to climate change and sustainability, to making data-informed public policy on issues of societal significance,” Cal associate provost for CDSS and dean of the School of Information Jennifer Chayes said.
“We are immensely grateful for this generous anchor gift, which will help us make the Data Hub possible.”
The university said it plans to raise about $300 million to fund and sustain the building and the division’s further growth. About 6,000 undergraduates take a data-science course each year at Cal, where data science is its fastest-growing major, nearly as large as computer science.
“The Division of Computing, Data Science, and Society is a transformative new organization on campus, connecting students and faculty across departments and divisions to place Berkeley at the forefront of path-breaking research and education,” Cal executive vice chancellor and provost Paul Alivisatos said.
“The Data Hub will be the home base for this dynamic new teaching, learning, and research environment.”
That base is expected to include classrooms, laboratories and officers, work and teaching spaces and an auditorium, and the university plans to retain a design and construction manager to coordinate design and planning.
“Berkeley faculty and students are advancing the foundations of computing and data science at a rapid pace, while harnessing these tools to revolutionize biomedicine, engineering, environmental science and other critical disciplines,” Alivisatos said. “I’m delighted that the Division of Computing, Data Science, and Society is taking flight, and the Data Hub will become the space where all these efforts intersect.”
Contact George Kelly at 408-859-5180.
