The final addition to Stanford’s Science and Engineering Quad, a bioengineering and chemical engineering building, will be named after University trustee Kavitark “Ram” Shriram and his wife, Vidjealatchoumy “Vijay” Shriram.

The Shrirams have donated a total of $61 million to the university, with $57 million supporting the construction of the new Shriram Center for Bioengineering & Chemical Engineering.  Their gifts also include endowments to the departmental chair in the Department of Bioengineering.

Both Ram Shriram and his wife Vijay Shriram, parents of two Stanford graduates, are active members in the University community. The founder and managing director of venture capital firm Sherpalo Ventures LLC, Ram Shriram has been on Stanford’s Board of Trustees since 2009. Vijay Shriram serves on both the board of directors for Stanford’s East Palo Alto Academy and also the advisory council at the Graduate School of Education. The Shrirams are also members of Stanford’s Parents Advisory Board.

With over 208,000 square feet, the Shriram Center will be the largest of the four buildings in the Science and Engineering Quad. It will house both the Department of Bioengineering and the Department of Chemical Engineering and will encourage collaboration between the two fields.

“The Shriram Center will provide critically needed space and laboratory equipment for these disciplines to pursue the big challenges of this century,” said Jim Plummer, dean of the School of Engineering, in a Stanford Report article.