UC Berkeley is 80 percent of the way to its $6 billion Light the Way Campaign fundraising goal, part of which includes the construction of a new building that will house the Division of Computing, Data Science, and Society (CDSS).
The Gateway building, which is planned to open in 2025, will foster interdisciplinary research and support growing interest across campus in computing and data science. Nearly one in five Berkeley undergraduates take a data science class annually. The building, depicted in architectural renderings in the video, will provide space for more than 1,600 faculty, students, researchers and staff.
“The Gateway will meet this demand, expand that capacity and be a place for students across campus to learn to think critically about AI and society,” said Jennifer Chayes, associate provost of CDSS, in the video. “Our cutting-edge Division of Computing, Data Science, and Society will disrupt research and reimagine academic cooperation.”
Berkeley has received several gifts so far towards the Gateway building, including one for $252 million from an anonymous donor. That donation is one of the largest in the university’s history.
Berkeley launched CDSS in 2018. The division brings together faculty and students in programs, schools and departments across campus to find solutions to society’s most urgent challenges in health and biomedicine, climate and sustainability, and human welfare and social justice by harnessing computing and data sciences.