Fred Luddy
For the past 20 years, the School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering has built a world-renowned reputation for seeing tomorrow, for serving as the leader in innovative technology that makes an impact in real lives. Now, a historic gift will allow the School to take the lead in the next technological revolution.
Indiana University alumnus and information technology pioneer Fred Luddy has given $60 million to IU attract and retain the best students and faculty as well as establish a multidisciplinary initiative in artificial intelligence to what will now be called the Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering. This transformative gift, the second-largest private gift in IU history, will make the Luddy School the best of its kind in the world.
“I believe in the importance of people,” Luddy said. “It is the imagination and determination of people that drive technology that makes an impact in real lives. My path has been shaped by the people who inspire me, who guide me to pursue the next innovation with the potential to transform everything. This gift will allow the next generation of researchers and students to bring together their knowledge, wisdom, and ideas to create things that we never thought possible. I’m thrilled to be able to play a role in helping IU professors and students reach for what comes next.”
The gift will create support for faculty excellence by establishing faculty chairs, professorships, and fellowships. It also will establish outstanding student support via graduate fellowships, and undergraduates will benefit from the Luddy Scholars program, which will focus on attracting excellent students from the state of Indiana, the United States, and the world to the School. The Luddy Scholars will benefit from exclusive programs, including the Luddy Seminar series featuring tech visionaries in strategic locations around the United States.
The gift will also fund the construction of the new Luddy Center for Artificial Intelligence. The $22.8 million facility will feature state-of-the-art teaching, research, and learning spaces dedicated to supporting IU faculty and students who are doing pioneering work in AI and machine learning. The center will focus on an interdisciplinary approach to Artificial Intelligence that will integrate algorithmic and statistical AI, cognitive sciences, and brain sciences.
The initial focus will be on AI approaches to digital health, and Luddy researchers will collaborate with IU’s extensive health and life science schools, departments, and programs.
“The new Luddy Center for Artificial Intelligence will help establish the Luddy School at the forefront of research and education in artificial intelligence and machine learning,” said Raj Acharya, dean of the Luddy School. “Digital healthcare sits at the heart of the mission of the Luddy School: to use technology to affect real change in lives. This is a gift that will lift our school and allow us to continue to be a leader of tomorrow.”
Luddy students and faculty also will work with Indiana University’s Big Red 200, the fastest university-owned AI supercomputer in the world.
Established in 2000, the Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering is one of the broadest of its kind. Blending the fields of computer science, informatics, intelligent systems engineering, information and library science, and data science, the Luddy School is home to more than 3,000 students from the United States and around the world. The forward-looking School’s faculty are world-renowned experts in their respective fields and lead the way in critical areas such as artificial intelligence, bioinformatics, high performance computing, programming languages, security, healthcare, human-computer interaction, computer engineering, bioengineering, and AI-driven-engineering. Computer and information sciences research expenditures are ranked 12th in the country.