Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, has announced a $5 million gift from Patricia Bao (’13 PhD) to help advance research on the future of technology and its ability to enhance human lives. 

The largest gift ever in support of Northwestern’s Center for Human-Computer Interaction and Design (HCI+D)—a collaboration between the university’s McCormick School of Engineering and School of Communication (SoC)—will endow the Bao Family Professorship in Human-Computer Interaction at SoC, with funds earmarked for an exceptional faculty member. In addition, it will help cover the center’s administrative costs and create an endowed fund to support the center in perpetuity, including but not limited to areas such as staffing, student recruitment and retention, travel grants, and cutting-edge research initiatives. 

“Patti’s inspiring gift solidifies Northwestern’s position as a global leader in a research area of monumental importance,” said Darren Gergle, professor of communication studies and a co-director of HCI+D. “The center’s work establishes the university as the place where leaders in government, technology, and business from around the world—not to mention prospective undergraduate and graduate students—come to first for answers to the growing number of challenges in the field.” 

“Darren took a chance on a bunch of new grads and built a space where we could explore any idea, form lifelong bonds and help advance the field of human-computer interaction,” said Bao, who became a Giving Pledge signatory last year with her husband, Tony Xu. “To have found such a mentor is priceless, and I can’t think of better hands to help guide the future of the Center for Human-Computer Interaction and Design.”

(Photo credit: Getty Images/Eugene_Moerman)