From civil engineers in India to funding a $20M AI college in US: The Sinhas' journey

Indian-origin couple Anuradha and Vikas Sinha have donated USD 20 million to the University of North Texas for a new AI college. Here's a look at Vikas Sinha's education and career journey in technology and data science. Indian-origin couple gives $20 million to US college: Vikas Sinha’s education, career path (Image courtesy: University of North Texas)Indian-origin couple Anuradha and Vikas Sinha have donated $20 million to the University of North Texas (UNT) to establish the College of Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Analytics, strengthening the university’s education and research in the field. The new college will be named the Anuradha and Vikas Sinha College of Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Analytics in honour of the couple.The college will bring together programmes and research across artificial intelligence, data analytics, cybersecurity, health informatics, information science and learning technologies. The donation will also create six permanent endowments supporting scholarships, professorships, college leadership, entrepreneurship and incubation, advanced research and emerging technologies.Both Vikas and Anuradha moved to US to pursue higher education after completing bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Sri Venkateswara University. In the US, both earned a graduate degree from Florida Atlantic University, as reported by Zee.VIKAS SINHA'S EDUCATIONAL QUALIFICATIONAccording to his LinkedIn profile, Sinha began his education at Kendriya Vidyalaya and completed high school in 1984. He then pursued a BTech in Engineering from Sri Venkateswara University between 1984 and 1988. He moved to the US for higher education, completing an MS in Engineering from Florida Atlantic University between 1988 and 1991. He was also a Doctoral Candidate in Engineering at the university from 1991 to 1994.His education later expanded into management and data science. He completed the KMI General Management programme at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management in 2002-03 and an MS in Data Sciences, formerly MS Predictive Analytics, from Northwestern University between 2013 and 2016. He subsequently completed Advanced Graduate Study in Advanced Data Science at Northwestern University in 2017-18. At UNT, he earned a Graduate Academic Certificate in Data Analytics between August 2020 and December 2021 and completed a PhD in Information Science, Data Science, from 2020 to 2023.VIKAS SINHA'S CAREER TRAJECTORYSinha’s career has spanned software programming, research and development, data analytics, cybersecurity, and senior technology leadership.Florida Atlantic University: Worked as a Graduate Research Assistant from August 1988 to April 1994.NTT DATA Services, formerly Keane: Joined as a Software Programmer in May 1994 and later served as Senior Software Programmer from December 1995 to July 1996.SPSS, later acquired by IBM: Joined in 1996 as a Release Manager and subsequently held roles including Senior Manager, R&D; Director, R&D; Vice President, Global Technical Support; and Vice President, Research & Development.IBM: Served as Program Director and later Director, SPSS Predictive Analytics Worldwide R&D, between 2009 and 2014.CA Technologies: Held senior leadership positions including Senior Vice President, Data Management & Mainframe Security; Senior Vice President and Business Unit Executive, Databases & Data Management; and Senior Vice President, Intelligent Mainframe Operations, Machine Learning, Cybersecurity.Broadcom: Joined in 2018 as Vice President, Global Customer Experience & Strategic Alliances, Mainframe Software Division. Since March 2025, he has served as Vice President, WW Engineering & Architecture, Mainframe Software Division.University of North Texas: Has served as a Leadership Board Member of the College of Information since August 2023. He was also an Associate Graduate Faculty member of the Toulouse Graduate School from July 2023 to May 2025.EARLIER SUPPORT TO UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXASThe USD 20 million donation follows earlier support from the Sinha family for UNT’s data science initiatives. The family previously funded UNT’s Department of Data Science in 2024 and the Sinha Innovation Lab for Data Science in 2025, as reported by FOX 4 News Dallas-Fort Worth.A little more than a year after completing his doctoral programme, Sinha and his family made an initial $3 million gift commitment to establish the Anuradha and Vikas Sinha Department of Data Science in the UNT College of Information, according to UNT’s website. The gift created endowments supporting student scholarships, professorships, research, and special initiatives.- EndsPublished By: Karan YadavPublished On: Sep 10, 2026 10:12 IST