Fariborz Maseeh, who graduated from Portland State University (PSU) in the 1980’s, will give his alma mater $5 million to renovate Neuberger Hall. The donation from Maseeh fills the $70 million pot needed to renovate the Hall.
Maseeh, who already has his name on one building at Portland State University, gave $8 million to the College of Engineering and Computer Science at PSU in 2004.
PSU announced the gift at a news conference Thursday morning. The gift is the final piece needed to move forward with the $70 million project.
In an interview Wednesday, Maseeh said he was honored to help PSU renovate one of the most important buildings on campus. In the early 1980s, Maseeh took math classes in Neuberger Hall and eventually had an office on the third floor while working as a graduate student. He said the building needed repairs decades ago.
It’s a key building to the students, and it was really one of the very old and run-down buildings
About Fariborz Maseeh
Maseeh was born in Tehran, Iran, and arrived in Portland, Oregon at the age of 18. He received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from PSU before earning master’s degree from the University of Texas (Austin) and later a doctorate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is the largest individual donor in PSU history, according to the school’s foundation. To date, Maseeh has donated a total of $18 million to his alma mater.
Maseeh is an internationally known expert in the field of micro-technology (also known as MEMS) and is the founder and former president and chief executive officer of IntelliSense Corporation, based in Wilmington, Massachusetts.
Under his leadership, IntelliSense became the first custom design, development and manufacturing MEMS operation and became the world’s fastest-growing MEMS corporation, twice named to both The New England Technology Fast 50 and The Forbes Fast 50.
In 2000, IntelliSense was acquired by Corning, Inc., in a deal valuing the company at around $750 million.
Upon selling IntelliSense, Maseeh founded The Massiah Foundation, an investment management firm located in Southern Califoria. The Foundation’s mission is to make significant improvements in education, health, arts, literature and science. Investments include Encyclopaedia Iranica and University of California Irvine’s ‘Samuel Jordan Center for Persian Studies‘ which was the first independent campus center in the United States for Persian Studies and Culture.
