In a first-of-its-kind donation, BITS Alumni Anuradha and Prashanth Palakurthi have made a commitment to contribute at least 1 million USD for setting-up a centre named Anuradha and Prashanth Palakurthi Centre for Artificial Intelligence Research (APPCAIR) for promoting research in the area of Artificial Intelligence. This commitment was made during the Ruby Anniversary celebrations of Prashanth's 1978-83 batch. from November 16-18, 2018 in Pilani. Speaking on the occasion Prashanth Palakurthi said: “We wanted to give back to our alma mater which gave us so much and where we started our journey". Anuradha, who joined BITS in 1984, said BITS has needs in several areas including infrastructure and research. "We hope our contribution is followed up by many more from the family of hugely successful alumni,” she said.

Prashanth Palakurthi is the Founder and CEO of US-based Reflexis Systems. His wife Anuradha, the founder of Juju Productions, is a professional singer and radio personality in the United States. APPCAIR, was officially inaugurated on 17 February 2020.