Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. will help fund a technology center at Carnegie Mellon University where it will provide researchers as well as recruit in areas such as robotics and artificial intelligence. Carnegie Mellon University and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), a leading global IT services and consultation organization, today announced a $35 million gift from TCS to the university, marking a new era of partnerships between leaders in industry and academia.

The gift also will endow Presidential Fellowships and Scholarships, increasing access to a CMU education for outstanding students. In this way, TCS, which has been at the forefront of national and grassroots campaigns to encourage science, technology, engineering and math education, will help equip Carnegie Mellon undergraduate and graduate students with the knowledge they need for future careers.

"TCS is proud to invest in this landmark partnership with CMU to promote market-driven innovation and accelerate advancements in technology, " said TCS Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director Natarajan Chandrasekaran. "As global leaders, Carnegie Mellon and TCS have the intellectual power, creativity, institutional nimbleness, and global reach to capitalize on new opportunities and have a lasting impact on society and industry through cutting-edge digital research and a long-term commitment to education."

Tata Consultancy, whose employees come from 46 countries and 120 nationalities, is part of the Tata Group. The conglomerate is made up of more than 100 companies, including Tata Motors, which owns Jaguar Land Rover, and Tata Beverages, owner of Tetley Tea and 8 O’Clock Coffee.

CMU's ties with India and Tata entities have spanned through the century from the time the two titans engaged on steel, leading to the setting up of Tata Steel and Jamshedpur. The University, which already has a billion dollar endowment, is currently headed by Subra Suresh, a former dean of Engineering at MIT, who then was appointed to lead the National Science Foundation, before he moved to Pittsburgh to take charge of CMU.