Three decades and hundreds of millions of lines of computer code after graduating from the Milwaukee School of Engineering, NVIDIA's Dwight Diercks returned today to celebrate a donation that will put his alma mater at the forefront of AI undergraduate education. Diercks, who grew up the son of a mailman, working on his family's pig farm in Red Wing, Minnesota, came to NVIDIA as its 22nd employee. Today, he oversees a team of some 5,000 software engineers around the world who ship tens of millions of lines of code each month that help accelerate the world's computing. Diercks' $34 million gift, the largest from an alum in MSOE's 116-year history, is the keystone in the school's efforts to infuse its engineering program with artificial intelligence. Two years ago, MSOE became one of the very few programs, together with Carnegie Mellon, to offer a computer science degree focused on AI.

The Dwight and Dian Diercks Computational Science Hall is now open at the Milwaukee School of Engineering campus. A new academic center for next-generation technologies is celebrating its grand opening at Milwaukee School of Engineering. The Dwight and Dian Diercks Computational Science Hall, funded by a donation from Dwight Diercks, a MSOE regent and alumnus, and his wife, Dian, was just completed at 1025 N. Milwaukee St. -- in the center of the downtown campus. It will prepare students for such growing fields as artificial intelligence, deep learning, cybersecurity, robotics and cloud computing. Artificial intelligence involves computers simulating human behavior to perform tasks.

A recent study, titled Milwaukee's Tech Talent Impact, found that nearly one-quarter of the total regional economic output was dependent on technology talent.

Keep up with the latest news from Wisconsin's innovation community with these recent headlines: The four-year college's goal in constructing the 64,000-square-foot research center is to position MSOE "at the forefront in artificial intelligence, deep learning, cybersecurity, robotics, computing, and other next-generation technologies," according to a press release. The facility will have classrooms, laboratories, an auditorium, and space for businesses that partner with MSOE, the school said. MSOE plans to break ground on the new center by mid-2018. Phoenix sells neutron generators and other machines to organizations in industries ranging from healthcare to defense to renewable energy. The company plans to use some of the proceeds from the funding round to construct a new headquarters that can house all of its workers and equipment.

Dedicated Computing is co-hosting a Deep Learning Institute workshop in collaboration with NVIDIA and Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE). The workshop will take place at MSOE on April 13, 2017. Deep learning is a new area of machine learning that seeks to use algorithms, big data, and parallel computing to enable real-world applications and deliver results. Machines are now able to learn at the speed, accuracy, and scale required for true artificial intelligence. This technology is used to improve self-driving cars, aid mega-city planners, and help discover new drugs to cure disease.