Donor News

Stacey Nicholas Donates $5 Million to UC Irvine to Further Boost Diversity in STEM

A $5 million gift from University of California, Irvine Foundation trustee Stacey Nicholas to The Henry Samueli School of Engineering will endow and rename a campus program that supports the recruitment, retention and graduation of students to advance diversity, equity and inclusion in science, technology, engineering and math.

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Edwards Lifesciences Foundation Supports New Program Focused on Equitable Innovations

The Edwards Lifesciences Foundation has awarded $100,000 to the UCI Samueli School of Engineering to develop a pilot program focused on educating biomedical engineering students about how systemic racism contributes to health inequities.

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Pete Balsells’ Life Honored at UCI

Pete Balsells, founder of the Balsells Fellowship program in the Samueli School of Engineering, was honored at a celebration of life event on Saturday, June 10 at UCI. Balsells died Aug. 10, 2022, at age 94. The event was attended in person and remotely by many current and former fellows as well as Balsells' family members and close friends. 

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Susan and Henry Samueli Give $50 Million to UC Irvine’s Engineering School

The creation of three new multidisciplinary research institutes in The Henry Samueli School of Engineering is being made possible by a $50 million gift from Susan and Henry Samueli to the University of California, Irvine.

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Excellence in Engineering Education Endowment Established in Honor of Dunn-Rankin

Derek Dunn-Rankin, affectionately known as DDR by students, recently retired after 35 years on the UCI faculty. 

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Donors' Gifts Support Student Success

Two Orange County industry executives and their wives, inspired to contribute to the next generation of engineers, have made generous gifts to support students at the UC Irvine Samueli School of Engineering.

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Samueli Foundation Grant Supports HEYKUBE Outreach Program

Solving the puzzle of a cube’s multiple colored squares has fascinated people for decades. Now, an upgraded version of the puzzle called HEYKUBE is at the center of a new outreach effort led by Quoc-Viet Dang, UC Irvine Samueli School of Engineering assistant professor of teaching of electrical engineering and computer science.

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New Graduate Fellowship Established by Alumnus Estate

A gift from the family trust of UC Irvine alumnus John Duffy ’88, and his wife, Joanna, has established a new graduate fellowship at the Samueli School of Engineering.

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Foundation Donates $1 Million to UCI’s Henry Samueli School of Engineering

The Lincoln Dynamic Foundation, created by University of California, Irvine alumnus John D. Lincoln, has made a $1 million gift to the university’s Henry Samueli School of Engineering to establish the World Institute for Sustainable Development of Materials.

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Engineering Their Legacy

If you’ve ever flown on an MD-80 or seen a cockpit with flight instruments displayed on screens, you’ve probably experienced the ingenuity of Bob Altman ’79.

When Altman graduated from UCI, he launched a three-decade career at McDonnell Douglas and later Boeing, melding his training in mechanical engineering with his love of computer programming.

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Stacey Nicholas Donates $5 Million to UCI in Support of Diversity and Inclusiveness

A $5 million gift from UCI Foundation trustee Stacey Nicholas will endow and rename a program serving both The Henry Samueli School of Engineering and the Donald Bren School of Information & Computer Sciences – the UCI Office of Access & Inclusion – that supports the recruitment, retention and graduation of students from historically excluded populations who are underrepresented in science, technology, engineering and math.

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Ingenuity 2019 Captures the Spirit of Innovation

The idea of innovation often conjures up images of a light bulb going off in someone’s head, but not for Jennifer Leuer, president of Partner Solutions at Experian Consumer Services. In delivering the keynote address at Ingenuity 2019, she explained that ingenuity is more about iterations than epiphanies.

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Horiba Group Commits $9 Million to UCI for New Institute

Horiba Group, a leading global provider of analytical and measurement systems, has committed $9 million to the Advanced Power and Energy Program at the University of California, Irvine to establish the Horiba Institute for Mobility and Connectivity.

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UCI Rocketry Lab Opens

The Samueli School of Engineering unveiled the UC Irvine Rocketry Lab in February 2018 to a large crowd of students along with a few staff, faculty and donors. The mechanical and aerospace engineering students were eager to see the new 150-foot-long lab, located on the ground floor and park side of Engineering Tower.

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Microsemi Gift Creates Presidential Chair in Electrical Engineering

A generous gift from the Microsemi Corporation to UC Irvine will establish a new endowed chair position in the Samueli School of Engineering.

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Endowed Presidential Chair Named for Former Dean, Dean’s Wife

The Henry Samueli School of Engineering has announced the creation of a new endowed Presidential Chair in electrical engineering and computer science, named in honor of a former Samueli School dean and his wife.

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Transformative $30 Million Gift from Samuelis to Fund Convergent Science Building

A $30 million gift from the Samueli Foundation will help fund a state-of-the-art convergent science building, expanding the University of California, Irvine’s ability to conduct large-scale, collaborative and cross-disciplinary research in engineering, computing and physical sciences.

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With $1 Million Gift, UCI Aims to Become First University to Launch Rocket into Space

University of California, Irvine students will “shoot for the moon” thanks to a $1 million gift from Base 11, a nonprofit STEM workforce development and entrepreneur accelerator.

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Former Dean, Wife Honored at Presidential Chair Celebration

It was standing room only in the Calit2 auditorium last night as 125 friends, family members and supporters of former Samueli School Dean Nicolaos Alexopoulos joined together to honor him and his wife, Sue Curtis Alexopoulos, after a UC Presidential Chair was named for them.

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The Henry Samueli School of Engineering at UCI receives $9.5 million gift

Stacey Nicholas’ Opus Foundation has made a $9.5 million gift to The Henry Samueli School of Engineering at UC Irvine.

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Building Towers

The people of Catalonia, Spain, have a centuries-old cultural tradition of building human towers, or castells (castles).

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