An executive with Santa Clara, California-based tech firm
NVIDIA and
Milwaukee School of Engineering alum is expanding his investment in the university’s artificial intelligence education. On Monday, MSOE announced a new school would be created in his name.
Dwight Diercks, a 1990 MSOE graduate, and his wife
Dian Diercks, have pledged $20 million toward the
Robert D. Kern Engineering Innovation Center, MSOE’s planned $76.5 million academic building that’s part of
a seven-year, $125 million campaign aiming to support the future of applied artificial intelligence education. MSOE announced “Next Bold Step: The Campaign to Accelerate Innovation” on Monday.
Construction of the four-story, 97,000-square-foot facility will break ground in the second half of 2025 at the southeast corner of Milwaukee and State Streets, currently a parking lot on the MSOE campus in downtown Milwaukee.
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Dwight Diercks[/caption]
“We’ll need modern classroom facilities where students can learn, experiment and teach each other, while still going to classes where computer science majors can work with mechanical engineers to construct an autonomous robot, where software engineers can work with biomedical engineers to apply AI to our most personal of engineering problems — health care — or designing the future of manufacturing, something that Milwaukee has been so great at for so many years,” said Diercks, who is also a MSOE regent and senior vice president of software engineering with NVIDIA. “The future of manufacturing is in AI.”
Dwight and Dian Diercks
previously donated $34 million to support the construction of MSOE’s
Dwight and Dian Diercks Computational Science Hall, which opened in 2019.
The Robert D. Kern Engineering Innovation Center will house MSOE’s new
Center for Applied Artificial Intelligence Education, which will “guide initiatives across campus, attract top faculty talent and support area businesses,” according to a MSOE news release. Robert Kern was the founder of Town of Genesee-based generator manufacturer
Generac and a major supporter of MSOE.
The Kern Family Foundation has also committed $20 million to the new building. In total, over $80 million has been committed to the campaign so far.
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John Walz[/caption]
MSOE president
John Walz said the goal is for the Robert D. Kern Engineering Innovation Center to open in fall 2027 after at least 18 months of construction.
“This campaign is more than just a fundraising effort,” Walz said. “It is a transformational commitment to expanding opportunities for our students, enhancing our academic programs, advancing cutting edge research and strengthening our impact on our many external partners. It will define MSOE’s future and ensure that we continue to lead in technical education for generation to come.”
The Dwight and Dian Diercks School of Advanced Computing
As part of its $125 million campaign, MSOE will also create the
Dwight and Dian Diercks School of Advanced Computing.
This new school, which will include MSOE’s computer science, software engineering and machine learning degree programs, will also “allow MSOE to weave AI and machine learning into degree programs across the university, and to support the exponential opportunities that advanced computing and computational sciences make possible in every industry,” according to the news release.
“Lots of great drug discovery work is done with the intersection of AI and the biomolecular engineering domain knowledge,” Diercks said. “And so putting that into the curriculum, putting that into the heart, and using things like our supercomputer on campus, we can turn our bio molecular engineers into mini drug discovery type designs.”
Rosie, MSOE’s supercomputer, is located inside the Dwight and Dian Diercks Computational Science Hall.
MSOE wants to develop the leaders that will shape the future — and that’s why the university is creating the new School of Advanced Computing, Diercks said.
“The Diercks School of Advanced Computing will set the national standard, not just for what we teach in artificial intelligence and machine learning, but for how we teach and integrate and innovate using these transformative technologies,” Walz said. “It will be the academic home for those who aspire to lead and applied AI education, and will attract the brightest minds, both students and faculty who are eager to push the boundaries of what AI and advanced computational sciences can achieve.”
The Dwight and Dian Diercks School of Advanced Computing will be pivotal in helping MSOE and Milwaukee to be recognized as “the premier destination for excellence in applied AI,” Walz said.
“This is a defining moment for MSOE with the launch of the Dwight and Dian Diercks School of Advanced Computing,” Walz said. “We are ensuring that every student who walks through our doors will be prepared to lead in the age of AI. We are setting a new standard for how AI is taught, applied and integrated into every discipline. On behalf of the entire MSOE community, I want to extend my deepest gratitude to Dwight and Dian for making this extraordinary milestone possible. Your vision, generosity and belief in the power of education will leave an indelible mark on this institution and on the countless students who will go on to change the world.”
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