“Also for the Charlottesville area, you have the National Ground Intelligence Center here, and other annexes,” Riggleman said. “I’ve been working with them since about 2007 on big data issues … it’s really important to be current and that’s why I think it’s really fantastic that UVa is on the forefront of this issue.”

Though details are still getting ironed out, Bourne said he hopes the new school — pending approvals from UVa’s Faculty Senate, Board of Visitors and the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia — can begin enrolling graduate students in the programs that already exist at the institute in the fall. Undergraduate programs will be added later.

The gift also will support a building to house the school.

Bourne said he plans to maintain the institute’s decentralized format. The school will offer undergraduate and graduate programs and certificates, but rely on interdisciplinary projects and faculty from other schools to teach about data acquisition, engineering, analysis, visualization and ethics.