The University of Maryland is set to receive the largest donation in the school's history.
Brendan Iribe, who quit during his freshman year from the school, will make a whopping $31 million gift to support scholarships and construction of a computer science building. Iribe, a 35-year-old CEO and co-founder of Oculus VR, said that the university is like an inspiration where he embarked on some memorable relationships, Washington Post reports.
Brendan Iribe Center for Computer Science and Innovation will be designed to support work in virtual reality, augmented reality, computer vision and robotics. The Center will encourage virtual reality study, a 3D computing experience that engages participants in a believable virtual world.
About $1 million of the donation will establish the Brendan Iribe Scholarship in Computer Science, Washington Times reports.
"I thought why not use a big percentage of what I had received to do this," Iribe said. "It's good for the future of the school and virtual reality. I have a broader commitment to the technology, but I was never in the right position to support academic programs and make a real impact on education," Venture Beat reports.
Oculus co-founder and alumnus Michael Antonov will also donate $4 million to the school. About $3.5 million will be dedicated for the construction of the building and the rest will fund scholarships. On the other hand, Iribe's mother - Elizabeth Iribe - wishes to gift $3 million to establish two endowed chairs in the Department of Computer Science.
Oculus VR - a California-based startup - develops wearable, immersive virtual reality technology. Recently, the virtual reality startup was sold to Facebook for $2 billion.
Another university that has received landmark gifts is the George Washington University. Philanthropists Michael Milken and Sumner M. Redstone made a gift of $80 million to support public-health scholarship.
The Trinity Washington University will receive $10 million to support the construction of an academic building and the Georgetown University will receive $100 million for a new school of public policy.
The Johns Hopkins University has received the largest gift to any private academic institution - $350 million. On the hand, the biggest donation of $100 million was given to the University of Virginia in the public sector.
