The Jen-Hsun Huang and Lori Mills Huang Collaborative Innovation Complex was made possible by two $50 million gifts, from the Huangs and the Wayne and Gladys Valley Foundation.

April 12, 2024
On April 12, 2024, the Oregon State University community celebrated the ceremonial groundbreaking for the Jen-Hsun Huang and Lori Mills Huang Collaborative Innovation Complex: a new $213 million, 143,000-square-foot advanced research and education facility. The complex was made possible by two $50 million gifts, from the Huangs and the Wayne and Gladys Valley Foundation. The state legislature also approved $72 million in capital bonds for the building’s construction, with the remainder of the funding coming from the university.

The center will harness one of the nation's most powerful supercomputers and team-based research in artificial intelligence, materials science and robotics to solve global challenges in areas such as climate science, oceanography, sustainability and water resources.

Located in the historic Engineering Triangle on the north side of the Corvallis campus, the facility honors the alumni couple’s gift. Jen-Hsun Huang is the founder and CEO of NVIDIA; he and his spouse, Lori, who is president of their family’s foundation, met as lab partners as undergraduates at Oregon State.

“This is the most ambitious facility project in the history of the university – and what’s really great about it is that it’s not just high-tech,” said Ed Feser, executive vice president and provost. “It leverages what’s truly unique and special about OSU’s excellence: our deeply collaborative, often interdisciplinary, culture.”

At the groundbreaking, Jon DeVaan, a 1985 Oregon State graduate and retired senior leader at Microsoft, who serves as a co-chair of the OSU Foundation-led $1.75 billion Believe It fundraising and engagement campaign, expressed appreciation to the Wayne and Gladys Valley Foundation. Founded by OSU alumni in 1977, the foundation is one of the university’s longest and most generous supporters. 

DeVaan thanked the Huangs for their guidance as well as their generosity: “The university had a vision for a collaborative research facility where faculty and students from our areas of strength could come together to leverage technology and discover solutions to problems OSU is uniquely positioned to solve. The Huangs made this vision better, by advising the university to focus the project on the most transformative technology of our time: artificial intelligence, because AI is a revolutionary tool that can help all areas of research.”

“These are extraordinary times,” Jen-Hsun Huang told the gathering, referencing environmental challenges around the world. But, he added, these are also extraordinary times “because for the very first time in history, humanity has also created the technologies that we can imagine to make a difference. Finally we have instruments that can amplify and augment our scientists’ abilities – to put our heads around this problem, and reverse the stress we have put on the planet.”

The creation of the Huang Complex has inspired additional support for faculty, staff, students and programs associated with the project, including the recently announced $20 million gift to establish the Gaulke Center for Marine Innovation and Technology.

“While the two gifts from the Huangs and the Valley Foundation are remarkable in themselves – equaling the largest gifts in university history – they also have an enormous impact in galvanizing our community and increasing the progress we can make together,” said Shawn L. Scoville, OSU Foundation president and CEO. “We are grateful to the Valley Foundation, the Huangs, alumni like Judy and Mike Gaulke, and all the donors who have supported this project, its people, programs and promise. Thank you, all!”

The Huang Collaborative Innovation Complex directly supports the first goal of Oregon State’s new strategic plan, Prosperity Widely Shared: to become a university focused on big discoveries that drive big solutions, including by nearly doubling research expenditures to $600 million (it was $367 million in FY23). President Jayathi Murthy said, “The complex will support exciting new discoveries as well as innovation, entrepreneurship and partnerships with industry and other universities. It will give students the learning experiences they need for successful careers, including in Oregon’s semiconductor industry. It will accelerate our ability to solve critical global problems  affecting oceans, forests, agriculture, health, energy and more and to find creative solutions.”

Plans for the Huang Complex were announced at the 2022 public launch of the Believe It campaign. The campaign seeks support for priority university initiatives, including student access and success, faculty positions, academic programs, research, statewide community engagement programs, athletics and facilities at Oregon State campuses in Corvallis, Bend and Newport.

Learn more about the Huang Collaborative Innovation Complex.