The UCLA Samueli School of Engineering has received its largest gift ever: $100 million from longtime supporters Henry and Susan Samueli.
The gift, made through the Samueli Foundation, will be used to spur the engineering school’s planned expansion, which is to continue well into the next decade and is its most significant growth since the school was founded in 1945.
UCLA Samueli plans to enroll at least 7,000 undergraduate and graduate students by 2028, up from 5,300 at the start of the expansion in 2016. The school will also seek to add approximately 100 professors over the same period of time for a roster of nearly 250. New faculty will be in emerging research areas, such as engineering in medicine, quantum technologies, and sustainable and resilient urban systems.
“Henry and Susan’s extraordinary commitment to public higher education will benefit UCLA and our larger community for generations to come,” said UCLA Chancellor Gene Block. “Their generous continued support reflects their confidence in our university to serve the greater good.”
In 2000, the engineering school was named in Henry Samueli’s honor following a $30 million gift that supported capital improvements as well as fellowships for graduate students and early career faculty. Since then, the Samuelis have made several additional gifts to the engineering school, including $10 million to support the establishment of endowed professorships and $20 million to support undergraduate students through scholarships and internships.
“Susan and I are thrilled to be able to support the continued expansion of the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering,” Henry Samueli said. “The demand for engineering graduates has continued to grow unabated, so it is exciting to see UCLA’s significant commitment to increase the number of students and faculty, and expand research and entrepreneurship within the school. Such a commitment will ensure that UCLA Samueli remains among the elite engineering schools in the world, with an ever-growing impact on our society’s greatest challenges.”
A full-time professor of electrical engineering at UCLA from 1985 to 1995, Henry Samueli earned three degrees from UCLA: a bachelor’s in 1975, a master’s in 1976 and his doctorate in 1980. He co-founded Broadcom Corporation in 1991 and serves as chairman of the board of the company, which is now known as Broadcom Inc. Based in San Jose, California, the firm is one of the world’s largest semiconductor and infrastructure software companies.
“Henry’s start mirrors that of so many of our students and alumni,” said Jayathi Murthy, the Ronald and Valerie Sugar Dean of Engineering. “He’s a first-generation American who used his engineering education to carve a path to success. His impactful and continuing contributions to the telecommunications industry have been nothing short of remarkable.”
“On behalf of everyone at the school, I offer my deepest thanks to Henry and Susan for believing in our vision,” Murthy said. “Their philanthropy will allow us to educate even more students.”
As part of its growth plan, the school also has expanded its infrastructure, adding two new buildings in the past 12 years. The latest is the 150,000-square-foot Engineering VI, which opened in March 2018, and houses the school’s growing computer science department and multidisciplinary research laboratories.
Including today’s gift, the Samuelis have given more than $188 million to UCLA and more than $478 million overall to the University of California system. The gift is part of the Centennial Campaign for UCLA, which is scheduled to conclude in December 2019, during UCLA’s 100th anniversary year. Henry Samueli is the campaign’s Orange County chair.