The University of Chicago says it will be the first U.S. university to create a school of molecular engineering, thanks to a $100 million donation.

The university announced Tuesday that the new school will be known as the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering. It will be supported by a gift from the Pritzker Foundation. It's the university's first school in engineering and its first new school in three decades.

The school will aim to find new solutions for pressing global challenges, including immunotherapy-based approaches to cancer and the search for sustainable energy.

University of Chicago President Robert Zimmer says the gift will help expand work already underway with Argonne National Laboratory.

The foundation is led by relatives of Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, including former U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker.