The gift, which will allow research faculty to apply for funding grants of $50,000 year for the next six years, is intended to attract and retain promising scholars by providing startup funding for independent research activities, according to a press release. Faculty members who apply for the funding must be in the early stages of their career, the release added.
“In order to sustain UT Dallas’ incredible growth and success, it is critically important that we expand our faculty with the best available talent,” UT Dallas President Richard C. Benson said. “I am grateful to Texas Instruments for helping us achieve this goal and look forward to the impact these new faculty members will make in their fields, for our students and for the economic well-being of our region.”
In the early 1960s, TI founders Eugene McDermott, Erik Jonsson and Cecil Green established the precursor institution that eventually became UT Dallas. The donation was made in honor of the university’s 50th anniversary, the release stated.
“It’s our hope that the new endowment as well as all we do to collaborate with UTD reflects TI’s desire to see the university maintain engineering as central to its mission and to produce students who are equipped with both technical and entrepreneurial skills and to be a source of great local talent,” said Rich Templeton, chairman, president and CEO of Texas Instruments.
The donation represents the largest single commitment to UT Dallas ever made by TI, the release stated.
