Indian-American Mukund Padmanabhan has donated USD 2.5 million for the construction of a new engineering building at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA).
The donation is the fourth Padmanabhan, a UCLA alumnus, has made to the university - his largest so far. His three previous donations, of USD 500,000 each, support the Guru Krupa Foundation fellowships in Electrical Engineering.
The new USD 2.5 million contributions will create the Mukund Padmanabhan Systems Scaling Technology Laboratory in Engineering VI, the university said in a release.
After graduating from UCLA, Padmanabhan joined the IBM Thomas J Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, New York.
"I see the quality of the work being done by the students who benefit from the Guru Krupa Foundation fellowships, and I feel very satisfied that research is progressing full speed ahead at UCLA," said Padmanabhan, who studied electrical engineering at UCLA, earning his master's degree in 1989 and Ph.D. In 1992.
"When I learned that UCLA wanted to advance the frontiers of 3-D integrated circuit design, I felt that this was the right project to further extend my commitment to the school. I look forward to the lab making great advances and cementing UCLA's role as a premier research institution," he said.
"Thanks to the generosity and vision of Mukund Padmanabhan and others, Engineering VI will be a hub of advanced engineering research, education and entrepreneurial activity," said UCLA Engineering Dean Vijay K Dhir.
The lab will be dedicated to making advances in the performance, cost-effectiveness and energy efficiency of heterogeneously integrated microsystems, including 3-D integrated circuits and assemblies.
Such systems have extensive commercial and industrial applications, ranging from cellphones and computers to equipment used in sophisticated health care, military and space applications, the university said.
