The cofounder and chief executive of Irvine-based Oculus VR Inc. has pledged $31 million to the University of Maryland-College Park to build a new computer science building focused on virtual reality, according to a report.
Brendan Iribe attended the school for one year but did not finish his degree.
Facebook’s $2 billion acquisition of Oculus closed this summer.
Iribe’s is the largest gift in the school’s history, the report said.
The new center is planned as a research hub with “hacker/maker” space and equipment for students to explore new ideas.
There are 2,000 undergraduates in the computer science program at the school.
Iribe’s mother Elizabeth also plans to give to the school, with $3 million slated to endow two chairs in the computer science department and Oculus co-founder and College Park alum Michael Antonov will give $4 million more, the report said.
Andrew Reisse, a third Oculus partner who attended the school, died in a car accident last year. Some of the money given to the school will fund a scholarship in his name
