MILWAUKEE -- A new $34 million academic facility promises to position MSOE at the forefront of artificial intelligence education.
MSEO Senior Austin Keenan attended Monday's surprise announcement. He admits he had no clue what he was walking into, but he’s pleased with everything he learned.
“[With] so many universities out there [and] with so much research, they don’t always have the equipment or technology to do things like AI and with this investment, it really puts the tools in the right hand," Keenan said."I think [this announcement] just solidifies how great MSOE's known in the industry, and it really makes me happy as a senior that I'm here," he said.
The investment was made by Dwight Diercks, an alumnus of the school and the Senior VP of software engineering at NVIDIA. His $34 million donation is the largest of any alum in university history.
“I think this gift is going to really make for better-prepared students in the modern world of AI," Diercks said.
The 64,000-square foot facility will be a state-of-the-art data center housing a GPU accelerated supercomputer that will serve students and the industry, helping the school become a national leader in application-focused artificial intelligence and computational science education.
MSOE plans to have the facility open to students by the fall of 2019.
