$3M gift establishes Samir and Puja Kaul Directorship at MICDE

By Wendy Sutton, Office of the Vice President for Research | Photos provided by the OVPR and the College of Engineering

As part of a $3 million gift to the University of Michigan, business leaders and philanthropists Samir and Puja Kaul have established a lasting source of funding for the Michigan Institute for Computational Discovery and Engineering, a leading hub for advanced research.

The gift will endow a new directorship fund and rename the leadership role of the institute as the Samir and Puja Kaul Director of MICDE.

"This endowment arrives at a critical juncture in the evolution of computational science," said Karthik Duraisamy, director of MICDE and professor of aerospace, mechanical and nuclear engineering. "As artificial intelligence and advanced computational algorithms reshape our approach to science and technology, this gift helps MICDE identify and explore interdisciplinary challenges. This will enable us to establish deeper connections between diverse fields and further solidify U‑M as a leader in a rapidly evolving research landscape."

The Kaul family’s gift includes $2.5 million to an endowment for MICDE and $500,000 to the president’s office to support key institutional priorities.

“We are so grateful to Samir and Puja Kaul for their deep friendship with our university, as well as their vision, their commitment and their generosity,” said Santa J. Ono, president of the University of Michigan. “Their gift will allow us to connect and collaborate as never before, speeding innovations and discoveries, providing transformative opportunities for our students and faculty, and opening new horizons and new frontiers.”

Samir and Puja Kaul earned their undergraduate degrees from the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts in 1995 and 1998, respectively. They have three children.

Samir is a founding partner and managing director at Khosla Ventures, where he focuses on investments in health, sustainability, food and advanced technology. In addition, he serves on various boards and leadership committees, including the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals Foundation. Puja is a former corporate lawyer who most recently worked at WilmerHale, and she is now an active community leader and volunteer. The Kaul family has a history of philanthropy at U‑M, having previously established a scholarship at LSA.

“I was a scientist by training, then went to business school,” Samir Kaul said. “So whenever we make a gift like this, we want to foster cross-campus and cross-discipline collaboration, and Michigan can leverage its outstanding faculty and students to do this. Hopefully this gift continues to attract more faculty like Karthik, as well as students, to the university to do really cutting-edge work that isn’t possible at other places.”

MICDE is a joint initiative of the College of Engineering, LSA and the Office of the Vice President for Research. As early as 1988, U‑M identified scientific computing as one of the three pillars of scientific research, joining theory and experimentation by creating the first PhD program in scientific computing in the nation.

Today, with more than 150 affiliated faculty and 220 students in its PhD and graduate certificate programs, MICDE stands as a central hub for research in computational science and engineering. The institute advances technologies such as artificial intelligence and sophisticated modeling techniques to tackle global challenges, including environmental sustainability, infectious disease modeling and climate change solutions.

MICDE faculty currently lead several multi-university research centers, including in areas related to climate change, propulsion and space physics.

In May, MICDE announced a five-year, $15 million partnership with Los Alamos National Laboratory, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy. This collaboration will develop advanced computing and artificial intelligence technologies to address critical scientific and engineering challenges relevant to energy and national security applications.

“The Kaul family’s support ensures that the groundbreaking work in computational science and engineering can continue without disruption,” said Arthur Lupia, interim vice president for research and innovation. “This funding will accelerate pioneering research, foster transformative innovations and prepare our students to become leaders in an increasingly digital world. Scientific computing is crucial for advancing knowledge across disciplines, driving progress that can fundamentally change how we approach and resolve real-world problems.”