Tech CEO and philanthropist Alex Tsigutkin and his wife, Diana, donated $12.5 million to Yeshiva University to establish a new electrical and computer engineering program that will be named in their honor, the school exclusively told eJewishPhilanthropy on Tuesday.

The program is meant to serve as a pathway offering undergraduate students electives that will guarantee admission into the school’s computer science and engineering graduate programs. The donation will also support $25,000 scholarships for at least 10 undergraduates annually.

Classes include engineering design, computing systems, electronics, signal processing, machine learning and wireless communications. The program will be directed by Fred Fontaine, the former chair of Cooper Union’s electrical engineering department. Fontaine comes to the university as a flood of faculty from other schools are turning to Yeshiva University amid a rise in antisemitism and anti-Israel rhetoric in academia following the Oct. 7 terror attacks and Israel’s resulting war against Hamas in Gaza. 

It’s not just that the faculty members are encountering antisemitism at other schools, Ari Berman, president of Yeshiva University, told eJP. “Oct. 7 exposed that the universities aren’t supportive of who they are,” he said.

After anti-Israel protests and encampments flared on campuses across America, students and donors looked to YU, also. In 2025, the school completed its $613 million “RiseUp” campaign two years ahead of schedule after a $5 million gift from longtime benefactor and New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft. The school  recently launched numerous STEM programs and a College of Dental Medicine, announced in March.

“I have a line of faculty who want to come to us, and as we continue to raise money, we’re bringing in top faculty from across the country who are in elite universities who are leaving them to come to Yeshiva,” Berman said.

Alex Tsigutkin is a graduate of Yeshiva University who spent over 30 years working on Wall Street. He founded AxiomSL, a software platform, and served as its CEO from 1991 until its merger with Calypso in 2021.

“Alex is a great example of an alum of Yeshiva University who was enormously successful and is paying it back by paying it forward,” Berman said. Both Tsigutkins have supported the school for years, along with other Jewish institutions. This is their largest donation to Yeshiva University yet.

“We are excited to help build a program that will prepare students to enter fields at the center of global innovation while remaining deeply grounded in the values and mission that make Yeshiva University so distinctive,” the Tsigutkins said in a statement.

To serve students in the new program, the school will build new classrooms and labs. The program is closely connected to similar programs in Israel and will offer students the opportunity to study and intern there.

“Everything we do at YU is intertwined with our mission to support Israel and we see the growth in engineering and Yeshiva as the backstop for Israel universities,” Berman said. “They will always have a profound partner in us.”