The University of North Texas (UNT) received a $20 million gift to expand its artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced analytics programs, including student scholarships, research, faculty support, and emerging technology initiatives, the university announced Sept. 8.
The university will name the Anuradha and Vikas Sinha College of Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Analytics in recognition of the gift, according to a press release. The college will serve as an academic and research hub focused on the development, application, and responsible use of AI, intelligent systems, and data analytics.
The $20 million gift will establish six permanent endowments supporting college leadership, student scholarships, endowed professorships, entrepreneurship and incubation, advanced research, and emerging technologies. UNT said the investments will support its broader goals around student success, research, and workforce preparation.
“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.
The college will be organized into two academic divisions. The Division of Applied Intelligence and Informatics will focus on AI, cybersecurity, data science, advanced analytics, and health informatics, and the Division of Information and Learning Applications will focus on information science, library science, and learning technologies.
In addition, the college will house a new Applied Artificial Intelligence and Data Science Institute. UNT said the institute will support interdisciplinary research and education, shared infrastructure, external research funding, and industry partnerships.
“What makes this gift extraordinary is that it gives us the ability to think bigger about every part of the student and faculty experience,” said Kinshuk, dean of the college. “We can connect students with emerging technologies and meaningful research, recruit and support outstanding faculty, create opportunities for entrepreneurship and build partnerships that move ideas beyond the university.”
The university said the institute will help UNT pursue additional research funding as Texas increases investments in public research universities through the Texas University Fund. UNT is eligible for the state fund and can pair public research funding with philanthropic support to expand research opportunities and recruit and retain faculty.
The Sinhas previously funded UNT’s data science programs. In 2024, they provided funding to establish the Anuradha and Vikas Sinha Department of Data Science, along with endowments supporting scholarships, faculty, research, and other initiatives. In 2025, they made another gift that established the Sinha Data Science Innovation Lab.
The lab provides students and faculty with high-performance computing infrastructure for data science and AI research, including Nvidia GPU servers, workstations, a 475-terabyte storage system, and infrastructure for federated learning.
“Anu and I see this as an investment in what students will be able to imagine and accomplish in the years ahead,” said Vikas Sinha, who earned a Ph.D. from UNT in 2023. “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.”
