Engineering Lands $25 Million for Data Science Building
Penn’s School of Engineering and Applied Science received a $25 million commitment from Harlan M. Stone C’80 in mid-November—the largest gift in the school’s history—to support the construction of a new data science building.
The building, which will be located on the corner of 34th and Chestnut Streets, will serve as “a hub for cross-disciplinary collaborations that harness expertise, research, and data across Penn’s 12 schools and numerous academic centers,” per the announcement.
“We are profoundly grateful to Harlan Stone for this exceptional gift,” said Penn President Amy Gutmann, calling him a “longtime friend of Penn Engineering.” Stone, the CEO of the global flooring manufacturer HMTX Industries, currently serves on the Penn Engineering Board of Overseers and chairs the newly formed Penn Engineering Technical Advisory Board. His previous contributions to Penn Engineering have included an endowed professorship, financial aid support for students, and an interactive animation theater in the Digital Media Design program [“The Moore Building Goes Matrix,” May|Jun 09].
“The possibilities for utilizing data to improve lives around the world are virtually endless and exciting to think about,” Stone said in a statement. “There is no better place than Penn Engineering for this to be accomplished and I am humbled to help make this a reality.”