Maryland University has received a $31m donation from alumnus Brendan Iribe, the chief executive of virtual reality headset Oculus Rift. Of the donation, $30m will go towards building the Brendan Iribe Centre for Computer Science and Innovation, with the other $1m establishing a scholarship in computer science in Iribe’s name.
Research at the future centre will focus on virtual reality, augmented reality, computer vision, robotics, human interaction and advanced computing platforms. It will also contain an incubator. The centre will allow the university to accommodate the growing number of undergraduates on the course, which has doubled over the past eight years to now count 2,000 students – a further 200 students are studying for postgraduate degrees.
On top of Iribe’s donation, Oculus co-founder, chief software architect and fellow alumnus, Michael Antonov, is also donating $4m to the university. A total of $3.5m will support the construction of the centre, and $500,000 will fund scholarships. Elizabeth Iribe, Brendan Iribe’s mother, is also gifting $3m, which will establish two endowed chairs in computer science.
Oculus Rift was acquired by Facebook in March 2014 for $2bn. It had been funded with a Kickstarter in August 2012, which asked for $250,000 but attracted nearly $2.5m.
Brendan Iribe said: “I have been passionate about computer science my whole life, and my experience at Maryland University fed that passion even more. My hope is that this gift will give university students access to world-class resources and facilities for computer science that enables them to achieve the seemingly impossible.”
