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USC Renames Computing School After Receiving $200 Million Gift From Nvidia Director Mark Stevens
Billionaire Nvidia board member and USC alumnus Mark Stevens and his wife Mary are donating $200 million for a universitywide artificial intelligence initiative. The gift, one of the largest in the school's 146-year history, will rename the School of Advanced Computing after the couple and fund AI research across multiple disciplines.
May 9, 4:00 PM·3m read1 source
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The University of Southern California announced that Mark Stevens and his wife Mary are donating $200 million to launch a universitywide AI initiative. The gift ranks among the largest in USC’s 146-year history. In recognition, USC’s School of Advanced Computing, housed within the Viterbi School of Engineering, will be renamed the USC Mark and Mary Stevens School of Computing and Artificial Intelligence.
The $200 million donation will fund the recruitment of AI researchers and support work spanning health sciences, security, business, and the arts. It will scale up neuroimaging research at the existing USC Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute, which uses imaging technology to study Alzheimer’s, schizophrenia, and traumatic brain injury.
U.S. Army–affiliated research center that uses AI for military training simulations. Additional funding will back USC’s new bachelor’s degree in artificial intelligence and its AI for Business program. ” Mark Stevens, who has served on USC’s Board of Trustees since 2001, said the timing is critical.
“We know the next great universities will be those that invest in computing. This is a key moment,” he stated. Stevens, 66, earned his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and economics from USC in 1981, followed by a master’s in computer engineering from the university in 1984 and an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1989.
He joined Sequoia Capital in 1989 and became a partner in 1993, the same year he led the firm’s investment in Nvidia. Nvidia now carries a $5 trillion market cap. Stevens still sits on Nvidia’s board and runs his own family office, S-Cubed Capital, in Menlo Park, Calif.
