A former student has honored one of the world’s foremost authorities on pattern recognition, computer vision and biometric recognition with a $400,000 gift to create The Anil K. Jain Endowed Graduate Fellowship endowed fund at Michigan State University.
Anil Jain, Distinguished Professor of computer science and engineering, conducts trailblazing research in fingerprint and face recognition and forensic science. The Anil K. Jain Endowed Graduate Fellowship will be funded from an anonymous $400,000 cash gift from an international businessman who was a visiting scholar in computer graphics and image processing in Jain’s laboratory in the early 1980s. Jain and his family will provide an additional $100,000 to augment this endowment.
“I am so very grateful that a former student has chosen to honor me by establishing this endowment,” Jain said. “I am flattered that our time together at MSU was so meaningful to him. Ultimately, this endowed fellowship will enhance our mutual scientific interests through new generations of graduate students.”
The fellowship fund will support doctoral-level research on pattern recognition, computer vision and biometric recognition. The Department of Computer Science and Engineering will select the recipients of the Jain Fellowship.
Leo Kempel, dean of the MSU College of Engineering, said this new support will help educate the problem-solvers of the future.
“We continually press forward in the College of Engineering to find practical solutions to our most pressing challenges,” Kempel said. “We are delighted someone has chosen to honor Dr. Jain’s long and meritorious service in this way.”
The gifts help the college achieve its goal to increase support for graduate studies and research in MSU’s Empower Extraordinary campaign, a $1.5 billion capital campaign to support MSU’s strategic objectives.
For more information on making a gift to the Anil K. Jain Endowed Graduate Fellowship fund or the College of Engineering, contact Stephen Bates, senior director of development, at batesst@egr.msu.edu or by calling (517) 355-8339.
Author: Patricia Mroczek