Alumnus donates 35 million euros to the UG
Generous donor prefers to stay anonymous
Alumnus donates 35 million euros to the UG
Door Giulia Fabrizi
By Giulia Fabrizi
Giulia Fabrizi
Van uit de hand gelopen studentenfeestjes tot bezette universiteitsgebouwen en van kamertekorten tot dreigende bezuinigingen: Giulia houdt al het nieuws in de gaten. Ze praat graag met de mensen die het aangaat, schrijft erover en begeleidt freelancers bij het maken van nieuwsartikelen. Eerder werkte ze als stadsredacteur Groningen en gemeenteverslaggever Haren voor Dagblad van het Noorden.The gift is part of a larger donation. It’s not yet known how much the donor, who wants to remain anonymous, will be donating in total. The university does expect more donations in ‘the near future’.
The UG says the total amount depends on the yield of the total donated fortune. One condition the donor set is that the money is spent on scientific research.
Huge amount
University president Jouke de Vries is grateful. ‘Never before has the university received such a huge amount from an alumnus to benefit scientific research’, he says.
‘It will give us the opportunity to make substantial investments in basic and applied research. We’ll also be able to give young and ambitious academics the chance to further their scientific career.’
CogniGron
The first 30 million will be allocated to the Groningen Cognitive Systems and Materials Center (CogniGron), where scientists are working on developing materials for a new generation of computers.
‘It’s important research, because the need for computers that can process and interpret enormous amounts of data will increase exponentially over the next few years’, says Beatriz Noheda, CogniGron director.
‘At the UG, we can significantly contribute to that via a multidisciplinary project involving scientists from various fields. We would have liked to name the CogniGron centre after the donor to convey our gratitude, but we obviously respect their wish to remain anonymous.’