Sonny Astani (MSISE'78), an inventive homebuilder deeply involved in the renaissance of downtown Los Angeles, is the latest USC graduate – all of them engineering leaders – to name a department of the Viterbi School with a record-setting $17-million gift. The gift is the largest ever to name a civil engineering department.
The Viterbi School now has four named departments, more than any other engineering school in the nation.
The donor-department match is more than fitting. The Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering is known as a leader in providing coordinated engineering solutions to the challenges of megacities. Astani is a developer and engineer renowned for his concern with people and the quality of urban life.
“Thirty years ago, by mere good fortune, I ended up in the best university, in the best city, in the best country in the world,” said Sonny Astani. “This is a gift to both USC and Los Angeles.” |
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