PHILADELPHIA University of Pennsylvania alumnus J. Peter Skirkanich and his wife Geri have pledged $10 million to build Skirkanich Hall, Penn new home for bioengineering.

The gift, the largest by an individual donor in the School of Engineering and Applied Science history, will help finance a 58,400-square-foot bioengi-neering laboratory facility in the engineering-school complex. The facility, to be located near the Penn School of Medicine, will house faculty, staff, students and researchers as part of the school $57 million bioengineering initiative.

Skirkanich, a Penn trustee and Engineering School overseer, is founder and president of Fox Asset Management, a New Jersey investment management and counseling firm with more than $2 billion in assets.

Skirkanich Hall is the latest in a list of gifts that include the Skirkanich Professorships of Innovation to hire young faculty and the Peter and Geri Skirkanich Endowed Scholarships for engineering undergraduates.

Engineering Dean Eduardo Glandt said the Skirkanichesgenerosity and vision "have provided Penn Engineering with the opportunity to grow and prosper like never before in its history."

Skirkanich believes that the investments in bioengineering and biomedical engineering will yield path-breaking achievements in medicine and health.

"Engineers and physicians working together will have a direct impact on the health and welfare of individuals. With aging populations around the world, that work takes on added significance," he said.

President Judith Rodin said the Skirkanichesgift "is a vote of confidence in Penn groundbreaking bioengineering efforts. Close collaboration between the engineering and medical school faculty at the University of Pennsylvania provides a huge basis for these efforts. We are grateful to Pete and Geri for their generosity and their vision."

The gift for Skirkanich Hall accompanies a $14 million five-year grant from the Whitaker Foundation to support programs and faculty in bioengineer-ing. Seven new faculty will be added in the next five years in the core areas of injury bioengineering, neuroengineering, orthopedic bioengineering and cardio-vascular bioengineering. At the same time, the number of bioengineering gradu-ate students will nearly double from 18 to a target level of 35 a year.

Penn School of Engineering and Applied Science was one of the first to award an undergraduate degree in bioengineering. Today Penn Engineering's partnership with the Penn School of Medicine exposes students to open-heart surgery, epilepsy treatments and other procedures that rely on technology in what Glandt calls "the ultimate field trip for bioengineers."

Skirkanich financed his Penn education with savings from jobs during high school, summers and college and from educational loans. At Penn he played varsity football and belonged to the Kappa Sigma fraternity.