Miami U. receives $2 million gift to establish endowed dean of the College of Engineering and Computing

Miami University alumnus Dinesh Paliwal and his wife Ila Paliwal are gifting $2 million to the university's College of Engineering and Computing to establish a scholarship fund and the school's first endowed dean, according to a Wednesday news release.

The Dinesh and Ila Paliwal Endowed Dean will help the university attract and retain prestigious faculty leaders, the university's news release states. The Dinesh and Ila Paliwal Engineering and Computing Scholarship fund will support underrepresented meritorious students.

“It is a privilege and highly gratifying to give back to the university that provided the foundational platform that my humble achievements have been built upon,” Dinesh Paliwal said. “The College of Engineering at Miami University continues to evolve, and I am pleased to help strengthen the school to ensure it stays a relevant and leading force for engineering education in the U.S. through growth in robotics, blockchain, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and machine learning, and other software applications."

Paliwal earned master's degrees in computational science and engineering and an MBA in finance from Miami, and currently serves on Miami's board of trustees. He is a partner at KKR, a leading global investment firm headquartered in New York City and serves on the board of directors for Fortune 500 corporations Nestlé and Raytheon. He also is chairman of the automotive electronics corporation Marelli.

Beena Sukumaran will serve as the endowed dean. She received her bachelor's degree in India, her master's at Auburn University and her Ph.D. at Purdue University. Sukumaran served as a professor, research fellow and vice president for research at Rowan University in New Jersey before coming to Miami in 2020.

Paliwal described Sukumaran as "a transformational leader" in the university's news release.

"I hope this endowment will help realize her vision," Paliwal said.

That vision, Sukumaran said in the release, includes providing high-quality education in the in-demand fields of engineering and computer science to a diverse student body. Preference for the new scholarship will be given to underrepresented groups and female students.

"Dinesh and Ila have been generous supporters of academic programs and scholarships at Miami for many years," Miami University president Greg Crawford said in the release. The Paliwals previously created the Dr. Bill Scott Leadership Scholarship in the Paper Science and Engineering Foundation and the Dinesh and Ila Paliwal Innovation Chair and a scholarship program in the Farmer School of Business.

"It's exciting to have gifts like this to lead the charge and encourage others to support the university, our faculty, and students in record ways," Crawford said.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Miami to establish endowed dean of engineering with $2 million gift