UC Berkeley receives anonymous $252 million gift for new data science building

The University of California, Berkeley announced on February 29, 2020 that an anonymous donor had given $252 million toward construction of a new building, known as the Data Hub, for its Division of Computing, Data Science, and Society. The university described the donation as the largest single gift in its history.

The building is planned for open space at the intersection of Hearst Avenue, Arch Street and MacFarlane Lane. According to the announcement, it is expected to hold faculty offices and laboratories, including robotics and artificial intelligence labs, along with research centers, public gathering areas, classrooms and a large auditorium. Berkeley said it would raise approximately $300 million in additional private support to complete the project, and that it had begun a search for a design and construction manager.

The division was set up to connect computing and data science teaching and research across departments. Berkeley reported that about 6,000 undergraduates take a data science course each year and that the data science major was the fastest-growing on campus, approaching computer science in size. University leaders said the facility is meant to bring together researchers from different disciplines who work with data, including specialists in ethics, law and the social sciences.