The San Francisco-based Helen Diller Family Foundation has given the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology a $50 million contribution, which will support a new quantum science center at the Haifa university.

The gift “will strengthen the Technion’s position as a world leader in quantum science and engineering by providing the means for new faculty recruitment, establishing new infrastructure, seed funding for research and development, and educating a new generation of engineers with a mastery of quantum mechanics,” according to the university.

The center will be named the Helen Diller Center for Quantum Science, Matter and Engineering.

The center will advance basic sciences while using the principles of quantum mechanics to study various engineering fields, and develop applications  for industries. It also will serve as a platform for collaboration between Technion scientists and engineers in other fields.

“The Technion is one of the preeminent institutions for technology in the world, and my parents thought this was an important investment for the future of Israel and humanity,” said Helen Diller’s daughter, Jackie Safier, who is president of the foundation. “The new Helen Diller Center for Quantum Science, Matter and Engineering will help Israel secure its place in the next revolution in science and engineering.”

Diller passed away in 2015 with a legacy of philanthropy around the Bay Area, including having established the Diller Teen Fellows and Diller Tikkun Olam Awards. In February, the foundation that still bears her name gave $500 million to UCSF Medical Center at Parnassus Heights, which will be renamed UCSF Helen Diller Medical Center at Parnassus Heights.