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mahatmakanejeeves

(60,933 posts)
Wed Jan 13, 2021, 03:24 PM Jan 2021

Virginia Tech receives $10M gift for AI center, other programs

Hat tip, the Roanoke Times, but the article is behind a paywall there.

Virginia Tech receives $10M gift for AI center, other programs

Center for Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics to be located at NoVa Innovation Campus

PUBLISHED JANUARY 13, 2021
BY SYDNEY LAKE

With a $10 million gift from Mehul Sanghani, CEO of Reston-based Octo Consulting Group, and his wife Hema, Virginia Tech has renamed its Center for Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics in the couple’s honor. ... The Sanghani Center will move its headquarters to Virginia Tech’s $1 billion Innovation Campus, which will be under construction starting this year. The gift will support recruiting, research and fellowships at the center, which opened in 2011 and was formerly called the Discovery Analytics Center.

“We thank the Sanghanis for their landmark contribution,” Virginia Tech President Tim Sands said in a statement about the couple, both of whom graduated from Virginia Tech. “This gift fuels growing momentum as we expand the university’s footprint in the greater D.C. area and explore the human-computing frontier. The Sanghanis’ investments in data analytics and artificial intelligence will advance Virginia Tech as a catalyst for discovery, growth and opportunity.”

Funding will also be allocated to a Sanghani Center scholars program for minority students pursuing graduate degrees in artificial intelligence, a focus of Mehul Sanghani’s company. Founded in 2006, Octo specializes in information technology and artificial intelligence consulting for the federal government. Some of the company’s clients include the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the General Services Administration.

The center will be located in the Innovation Campus’ first academic building, which is expected to open in August 2024. The campus will be located in the Alexandria portion of National Landing, approximately 2 miles from Amazon.com Inc.’s $2.5 billion East Coast HQ2 Headquarters.

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