By Robert Haugh

Santa Clara University is launching a new artificial intelligence center after receiving a gift of nearly $25 million from Nvidia executive and SCU alumna Debora Shoquist. 

The new Cunningham Shoquist Center for Applied AI and Human Potential will be based in the School of Engineering and housed at the Sobrato Campus for Discovery and Innovation.

The center will focus on applied AI. But university leaders say the goal is not just more technical innovation. They want the work tied to ethics, human dignity, and real-world problem solving, consistent with Santa Clara’s Jesuit mission.

The center’s name honors more than just the donor.

Shoquist included the name of her older sister, G. Lee Cunningham, in the title to recognize the role Cunningham played in her life. 

According to the university, Cunningham earned a master’s degree from Santa Clara in 1973 and encouraged Shoquist to attend the school. Shoquist said her sister’s belief in her helped push her to take risks and reach her potential.

That is why the center is called the Cunningham Shoquist Center, not just the Shoquist Center. Cunningham, who runs the family’s steel fabrication business in Eureka, is Shoquist’s only sibling.

The university says the center will support faculty hiring, student fellowships, grants, hackathons, public events, and industry partnerships. Research areas are expected to include healthcare and medical imaging, search and recommender systems, infrastructure, robotics, creativity, and human-computer interaction. Santa Clara also says the center will address fairness, safety, privacy, transparency, and security in AI systems.

School officials say the center is intended to make Santa Clara a bigger player in Silicon Valley’s AI ecosystem while training students to use the technology responsibly.