Bill Nye the Science Guy will speak at UC San Diego on Friday for an invitation-only opening of the new Halicioglu Institute of Data Science.

The goal of the Halicioglu Institute is to lead data science research in various disciplines including medicine, computer science, math, and biology. Taner Halicioglu, a UCSD alumnus and Facebook’s first full-time employee, donated $75 million last year to fund the institute’s lectures, research grants, fellowships. Along with the institute, UCSD began offering a data science major and minor Fall 2017.

Nye, a fierce advocate against climate change denial, is perhaps best known for his work on Bill Nye the Science Guy, an educational program played in classrooms around the country that ran from 1993 to 1998. In 2017, Nye launched a new Netflix series, Bill Nye Saves the World.

He will speak at the invite-only Halicioglu Institute dedication Friday morning.

Mo Al Elew is an Assistant News Editor at The Triton. You can follow him @SoloMune