Former Apple AI scientist Russ Webb named Santa Clara University's first Cunningham Shoquist Professor
He will teach machine learning and help lead the university's new applied AI center, created this year with a gift from an NVIDIA executive.
Santa Clara University has named Russ Webb, a former Apple artificial intelligence scientist, its first Cunningham Shoquist Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, the university announced Nov. 2.
Webb will teach computer science and machine learning and build a research program on AI models that run efficiently and that people can understand, according to the announcement.
He will also help lead the new Cunningham Shoquist Center for Applied AI and Human Potential, a campuswide AI hub. It was created in April 2026 with a gift from Debora Shoquist, a 1976 graduate and NVIDIA executive vice president, and honors her sister, G. Lee Cunningham, a 1973 master's graduate.
At Apple, Webb wrote the software that automatically enhances photos and corrects their colors, and he built and led two machine learning research teams. He is a named inventor on 48 issued patents. From 2004 to 2010, he taught electrical and computer engineering at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand.
Thoughtful and human-centered development of AI is critical for it to best serve people and society.
Santa Clara University is a private Jesuit school at 500 El Camino Real in Santa Clara, which borders San Jose.