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Who are Vikas and Anuradha Sinha, Indian-origin couple donating $20 million to US university?
After building careers in the US, Vikas and Anuradha Sinha are giving back to the university that helped shape their journey, with the latest gift focused on AI, data science and advanced research.
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Dr. Vikas and Anuradha Sinha. (Source: University of North Texas website)
Vikas and Anuradha Sinha, an Indian-origin couple, have donated $20 million to the University of North Texas (UNT), where the former earned his PhD, to establish a new college focused on artificial intelligence and advanced analytics.
The gift will establish the Anuradha and Vikas Sinha College of Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Analytics and six permanent endowments supporting college leadership, scholarships, professorships, entrepreneurship, research and emerging technologies.
But for the Sinhas, the donation is less about the size of the cheque than about returning the opportunity they once received.
“Education has opened doors for us throughout our lives, and we want to hold those doors open for others,” Vikas said.
He said the couple particularly wanted to support students who, like them, may arrive in the US from another country with “the same ambition and belief in education”.
“For us, this gift is about paying that opportunity forward and recognising that immigrants don’t simply participate in the American dream — they help build it,” he said.
Anuradha and Vikas Sinha are paying opportunity forward with a $20M gift to establish UNT’s new College of Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Analytics. I’m grateful for their belief in our students and UNT’s role in shaping what comes next. https://t.co/Nk2YEqz3ol pic.twitter.com/rDqJzbeC5M — Harrison Keller, Ph.D. (@UNTPrez) September 8, 2026
Who are Vikas and Anuradha Sinha?
Vikas and Anuradha began their educational journeys in India, where both earned bachelor’s degrees in civil engineering from Sri Venkateswara University.
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The couple later moved to the US for higher education and earned graduate degrees from Florida Atlantic University. Vikas went on to study predictive analytics at Northwestern University and eventually returned to UNT, where he earned his PhD in 2023.
Now, he is vice president of the Mainframe Software Division at Broadcom and has served on the UNT College of Information Leadership Board since 2023.
Their connection with UNT has since grown into a long-term commitment to the university.
In 2024, the Sinhas gave more than $3 million to establish the Anuradha and Vikas Sinha Department of Data Science, with additional endowments for scholarships, professorships, research and special initiatives.
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A year later, they donated another $2.15 million to establish the Sinha Innovation Lab for Data Science, giving students access to hands-on learning and research opportunities.
The latest $20 million gift takes that commitment several steps further.
Why are they investing $20 million in AI education now?
For Vikas, the choice of AI and data science reflects the changing nature of the job market and the role universities can play in preparing students for it. “Artificial intelligence will be one of the defining technologies of our generation,” he said.
But he said the couple wanted UNT to go beyond simply teaching students how to use AI.
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The new college will bring together work in artificial intelligence, intelligent systems, data analytics, cybersecurity, data science, health informatics, information science and learning technologies.
It will have two academic divisions — one focused on developing and deploying intelligent systems, and another examining how information and such systems operate in human and institutional settings.
It will also house the Applied Artificial Intelligence and Data Science Institute, which will link research and teaching across UNT and encourage collaborations with industry.
The aim, Vikas said, is to prepare not just users of AI but people who can “build it, understand it, question it, govern it and apply it responsibly”.
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For the Sinhas, that mission ties back to the reason they chose to give in the first place: the belief that education can change not just an individual’s circumstances but an entire family’s future.
“We firmly believe anything on the education front brings about a generational change,” Vikas said, recalling UNT’s large population of first-generation college students.
“That actually changes that family for generations to come — and that is very fulfilling.”
UNT President Harrison Keller said the couple’s contribution would create new opportunities for students and faculty while helping the university expand its work in AI, research and innovation.
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The university, which serves nearly 44,000 students across its campuses in Denton and Frisco, plans to formally celebrate the naming of the new college later this year, the statement said, according to Reuters.
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