Oregon State University has collected a sizable gift that will help it build a new ocean research center.
The $20 million, to the Oregon State University Foundation, comes from alumni Judy and Mike Gaulke. They've earmarked the money to "lead and support innovative research and development of technology that helps society better understand, protect and utilize the ocean and its environment."
The new Gaulke Center for Marine Innovation and Technology will thus study the collaboration between oceanography and artificial intelligence.
“What is so special about this gift is that it leverages OSU’s global distinction in oceanography with our extraordinary strength and depth in engineering," said Oregon State University President Jayathi Murthy, in a release. "The Gaulke Center will inspire and enable greater collaboration and technological innovation in ocean research.”
The money will also establish the Michael and Judith Gaulke Chair in Ocean Innovation, who'll also serve as the center's executive director. It further includes "start-up funding for the new center, support for faculty and graduate students and funding for early-stage research or projects that have significant potential impact but may be considered too risky to receive other types of funding." Plus, it will help establish an endowment.
OSU expects Gaulke Center researchers to work collaboratively with the Jen-Hsun and Lori Huang Collaborative Innovation Complex, which, established by a $50 million gift last year, features one of the nation's most-powerful supercomputers, the school said. OSU researchers hope to develop an unmanned robotic system that could, using AI, explore under ice shelves.
“Our future lies in the ocean, and it’s very clear that we need to change how we care for it,” Mike Gaulke said in the release. “Marine sciences can help, and it’s very exciting to see how advanced technologies can provide tools and approaches for addressing problems.”
The Gaulkes grew up in Hood River and now live in San Francisco. Their largesse, in 2012, established the first endowed chair in the College of Engineering’s School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
Mike Gaulke graduated from OSU’s College of Engineering in 1968 and became a Silicon Valley CEO. Judy Gaulke earned a home economics degree in 1965.
