A $10 million gift from Josh Kulkin '01 to the Cornell Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Sciences will bolster the university's position as a world leader in foundational artificial intelligence research.
"Responsible use of artificial intelligence presents the greatest opportunity for our society to advance across disciplines, and I am pleased to support Cornell's exceptional researchers who are operating at the forefront of AI innovation," said Kulkin, an early employee of Jane Street, a research-driven trading firm. "Through this gift, I hope to ensure that Cornell students and faculty can continue to be leaders in this transformational field."
The gift will support foundational research, new faculty recruitment and access to state-of-the-art computing infrastructure at the college. The funds will help attract top talent and provide crucial resources for advancing AI research across multiple disciplines, university administrators said.
"We are deeply grateful for this extraordinary commitment to Cornell's AI Initiative," said Provost Kavita Bala. "This support will help us attract and retain world-class faculty and students while advancing the frontier of AI research."
Cornell Bowers has a commitment to ethical AI research and development, with established research on topics including AI ethics and policy, AI and science, natural language processing, computational linguistics and information retrieval, machine learning, computer vision, game theory and decision theory, and robotics.
"This investment in Cornell's AI future comes at a crucial time as we continue to expand our research capabilities and educational programs," said Thorsten Joachims, Jacob Gould Schurman Professor in the departments of Computer Science and Information Science and director of the Cornell AI Radical Collaboration Initiative. "This generous gift will significantly enhance our ability to pursue pioneering research in AI and maintain Cornell's position as a premier institution for AI development and innovation."
Kulkin earned his undergraduate degree in computer science as a student in Cornell Engineering.
Patricia Waldron is a writer for the Cornell Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Science.
