The Grainger Foundation
Annual Impact Report 2024
In 2024, we celebrate five years as The Grainger College of Engineering — a name honoring a legacy of excellence and generous gifts to the college. The Grainger Foundation’s momentous contributions create unparalleled opportunities for our students, faculty and staff, and support life-changing engineering and computing innovations.
With the support of The Grainger Foundation, we have made one of the best engineering educations in the country available to a more diverse group of students. At the same time, we dramatically increased the number of highly sought-after faculty in our classrooms and research labs, and we supported them with new and renovated infrastructure.
Our rankings in U.S. News and World Report have soared, with Illinois Grainger Engineering now placing in the top five of undergraduate engineering programs and top ten of graduate engineering programs.
This year, PitchBook ranked the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in the top ten of universities in the nation for producing start-up founders. With The Grainger Foundation’s support, we are boosting efforts to expand entrepreneurial education programming. We know many of the skills engineers need to make an idea a reality apply in a variety of work environments from small start-up ventures to large, established companies.
The accolades reflect the outstanding nature of an Illinois Grainger Engineering education and the resolve of generations of Grainger engineers to solve the world’s toughest problems. The impact of our solutions is enormous. Grainger engineers create a healthier planet, save people’s lives and help societies thrive.
Improving the human condition is what
Grainger engineers and scientists do.
#5
overall undergraduate program
#9
overall graduate program
41
top 10 programs and specialties
2,454
first-year students, largest class in history
Your Gifts in Action
The Grainger Foundation’s support of The Grainger College of Engineering allows us to strategically invest in our people, expand our research enterprise and materials, and improve our college rankings. Your commitment to our mission results in our ability to strategically plan for the future, remain competitive in all our endeavors and continue our legacy of excellence in engineering and computing education.
Leveraging the Chicago
tech ecosystem
The Grainger College of Engineering educates world-class innovators and entrepreneurs. With the generous support of The Grainger Foundation, the Technology Entrepreneur Center (TEC) is expanding opportunities for students, increasing engagement with start-up teams and leveraging the Chicago tech ecosystem.
In August 2024, the Richard and Gayle Landuyt Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship John Thode officially began full-time work at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. We are thrilled that the ingenious and influential intra- and entrepreneur will guide the exciting growth of our visionary program.
Rashid Bashir, Dean of Illinois Grainger Engineering, said, “[John’s] leadership will undoubtedly inspire our students and further strengthen our commitment to being a leading institution for entrepreneurial education.”
Expanding opportunities for
new entrepreneurs
TEC is expanding outreach and programming to student start-up teams participating in existing competitions such as the Cozad New Venture Challenge and the University of Chicago’s College New Venture Challenge. The goal is to close the gap between competitions and the marketplace by encouraging the teams to commercialize and launch their products.
Start-up teams will also be connected to the Chicago tech ecosystem — creating networks vital to keeping new Illinois Grainger Engineering graduates in the Midwest. In the summer of 2025, The Grainger College of Engineering will begin a new Chicago-based pitch competition co-sponsored with World Business Chicago and taking place at World Business Chicago’s Venture Summit. The event will include a series of workshops designed to further hone team members’ entrepreneurial skill sets and introduce them to potential mentors and investors.
Research investments improve the human condition
High-speed and reliable compound semiconductor devices are essential for next-generation wireless communication and optical data- and tele-communication such as AI, big data and cloud computing. Materials and devices with compound semiconductors are developed and made by the Lee Group, led by Electrical and Computer Engineering Professor Larry Lee.
Through the support of The Grainger Foundation, a modern molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) system will be installed in the Holonyak Micro and Nanotechnology Lab, one of the country’s largest and most sophisticated university facilities of its kind and where the Lee Group Lab resides. MBE is a way of growing high-purity epitaxial layers of compound semiconductors and is a valuable tool in developing sophisticated electronic and optoelectronic devices.
Engineering Visionary Scholarships
The Grainger College of Engineering is committed to developing a diverse, forward-thinking, collaborative workforce whose critical thinking skills and technical proficiency prepare them to solve the world’s most challenging problems.
Since their inception in 2012, Engineering Visionary Scholarships have created powerful opportunities for thousands of undergraduates. The investment of The Grainger Foundation creates access to an outstanding engineering and computing education, regardless of socio-economic status, and changes students’ lives.
Recipients of Engineering Visionary Scholarships are truly exceptional and continue to inspire us with their talent, determination and courage to improve the human condition.
544
total EVS recipients in AY24-25
underrepresented population
45%
female
22%
first generation
Engineering Visionary Scholars
Vishnuh Bala (B.S. '26, Aerospace)
Vishnuh Bala chose an aerospace engineering major because he wanted to dedicate his life to exploration.
“The aid your donation has given me opened up my interest in studying abroad ... I’ll never get these years of my life back, and your gift has helped me make the most of them.”
Saliyah As-Salaam (B.S. '26, Civil Engineering)
Saliyah As-Salaam knows there are very few Black female civil engineers, yet she remains undaunted.
“Nothing will stop me from achieving my academic and career goals, and receiving this scholarship has aided me in the process.”
Gifts of all sizes to the Engineering Visionary Scholarship Initiative are pooled and endowed, maximizing Illinois Grainger Engineering’s ability to flexibly and more consistently distribute meaningful scholarship awards.
111
EVS endowed funds
$80M
total market value
$2.9M
total endowment income
Grainger Chairs and Founder Professors
The following four outstanding Illinois Grainger Engineering faculty members were invested in academic years 2023 and 2024.
Bill Hammack is a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering and a pioneer of engineering outreach. The creator and host of the popular YouTube channel engineerguyvideo, he also created a groundbreaking series of more than 200 commentaries for public radio describing what engineers do plus how and why they do it.
The Yu Research Group, led by Electrical and Computer Engineering Professor Cunjiang Yu, works in collaborative teams to create new devices and technologies as well as build an understanding of fundamental mechanisms to solve some of the greatest challenges facing societies.
Celebrating Five Years as The Grainger College of Engineering
In September, The Grainger College of Engineering recognized the fifth anniversary of our college’s naming and honored the forward-thinking, transformative gifts of The Grainger Foundation. In five years, the college has grown tremendously in terms of people and impact on society and the world.
54%
faculty growth
62%
student growth (graduate and undergraduate)
26%
annual extramural research expenditures
The fifth-year anniversary festivities included The Grainger College of Engineering's annual Day of Gratitude, which was held on Tuesday, September 4, 2024. On campus, students learned the impact of giving on our innovation and excellence. Students also enjoyed Block I cookies, participated in a scavenger hunt, picked up some Illinois Grainger Engineering swag and posed for photos in the big blue chair.
Around the globe, alumni were encouraged to engage with Illinois Grainger Engineering on the Day of Gratitude by learning about the Grainger Engineering Priority Fund, volunteering their time and talents, and staying connected digitally.
NEWS
Transformative gift establishes Illinois Grainger Engineering’s Siebel School of Computing and Data Science
A $50 million contribution from Thomas M. Siebel will propel the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign's leadership in computing and data science education and research, fostering interdisciplinary collaboration and empowering current and future Grainger engineers to positively shape the future of technology and society.
The announcement of the Siebel School of Computing and Data Science sparked what will be a year-long series of events celebrating Illinois Grainger engineers who have changed the world through their creativity, tenacity and vision.
The first event began the academic year and featured former student, Illinois Grainger Engineering Hall of Fame honoree and co-founder of YouTube Steve Chen, who returned to campus for the first time in 25 years to share his experience and insights during a fireside chat with 600 students and budding entrepreneurs.
The formal dedication of the school took place in October with Tom Siebel visiting the Illinois campus and engaging with students, faculty and staff during a series of celebratory activities.
Expanding opportunities, creating a dynamic future
The Grainger College of Engineering launched a new collaborative initiative with City Colleges of Chicago to expand access to engineering and computing education and cultivate a diverse, highly skilled workforce. The partnership creates a premier pipeline for community college students to earn engineering bachelor’s degrees and represents our commitment to creating a more inclusive future, thereby driving innovation and redefining the tech sector in Chicago and beyond.
Pioneering the quantum revolution
An extraordinary public-private partnership with The Grainger College of Engineering in a leadership role is poised to make groundbreaking advances in quantum information science and engineering. The Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park — a revolutionary, quantum-focused research and development campus in Chicago — will have an enormous impact in Illinois, across the country and around the world. Together with next-generation microelectronics, advances in quantum promise to transform computing, which underpins much of how modern society operates.