{"id":44572,"date":"2014-04-01T15:41:32","date_gmt":"2014-04-01T15:41:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/?p=44572"},"modified":"2014-05-01T19:15:47","modified_gmt":"2014-05-01T19:15:47","slug":"wegman-foundation-gives-17m-to-rochester","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wegman-foundation-gives-17m-to-rochester\/","title":{"rendered":"Wegman Foundation gives $17 million to University"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gifts benefit Golisano Children’s Hospital and Institute for Data Science<\/i><\/p>\n

Today, University of Rochester President Joel Seligman announced two extraordinary gifts from The Wegman Family Charitable Foundation (WFCF): a $10 million lead gift to the University’s Institute for Data Science and a $7 million gift to support the Golisano Children’s Hospital. Together with previous gifts to several programs across the University campuses, today’s announcement brings to $20 million the WFCF’s total contributions to the University’s comprehensive campaign. In recognition of this support for the Institute for Data Science, the Institute’s new landmark building will bear the Wegmans name.<\/p>\n

“It is our honor to support the University’s campaign,” said\u00a0Danny Wegman<\/b>, the Foundation’s president and chairman of the board. “The Institute for Data Science is helping the University and its collaborators become leaders in leveraging information in ways that will transform 21st-century discovery and innovation.<\/p>\n

“In a similar way, the new children’s hospital will move health care for our region’s children and their families into a whole new environment designed around children’s needs. What could be more important or gratifying than ensuring the health of our children?”<\/p>\n

\"artists'The Institute for Data Science and the Golisano Children’s Hospital campaign are flagships of the $1.2 billion goal for\u00a0The Meliora Challenge:<\/i>\u00a0The Campaign for the University of Rochester. The WFCF gift represents the fourth largest contribution to the University’s comprehensive campaign, and the second largest gift to the children’s hospital.<\/p>\n

“Data science is\u00a0the<\/i>\u00a0defining discipline of the 21st century, and among the University’s top priorities,” said University of Rochester President\u00a0Joel Seligman<\/b>. “Danny saw the potential of this initiative to build off of our strengths in data science and computational capabilities and our long tradition of entrepreneurship. He also knew a gift to the new Golisano Children’s Hospital would be an investment in our region’s future. Both of these gifts will further deepen the Wegman legacy in upstate New York.”<\/p>\n

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Learn more<\/h3>\n

Institute for Data Science<\/a><\/p>\n

Golisano Children’s Hospital<\/a><\/p>\n

The Meliora Challenge: The Campaign for the University of Rochester<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

This past fall, Seligman announced the University’s $100 million commitment\u2014inclusive of the $50 million it has invested in recent years\u2014to greatly expand its work in data science, the rapidly emerging field focused on how the world understands, consumes, and applies vast quantities of information and data. As the centerpiece of the University’s current five-year strategic plan, the Data Science Initiative features the creation of a new Institute for Data Science and includes the construction of a state-of-the-art building to house it, as well as support for as many as 20 new faculty members with expertise in the field.<\/p>\n

The proposed $25 million, 50,000-square-foot facility will complete the Science & Engineering Quadrangle on the River Campus, and will bring together\u2014under one roof\u2014faculty in medicine, science and engineering, the humanities, education, business and other disciplines for the purpose of data science research and studies. This new facility will also serve as the home for the recently designated New York State Center of Excellence for Data Science, which with support from Governor Andrew Cuomo and our New York State delegation, received $872,333 in the 2014-15 Budget.<\/p>\n