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A co-creator of the Google Earth platform has given, along with his wife, a $4 million gift to the University of Kansas to help find and create the next generation of software engineers.

Beth Ellyn and Brian McClendon made the multimillion dollar gift to support KU’s School of Engineering, the university announced Monday.

Brian McClendon is a 1986 graduate of the engineering school, which propelled him to jobs in Silicon Valley. By 2001, he co-founded Keyhole, which later was acquired by Google and was released to the public as Google Earth. The popular digital geography program was created with Lawrence’s Meadowbrook apartment complex as the default center of the world for users. That’s because McClendon grew up in that complex, which is just a couple of blocks west of the university.

“That story about my childhood home being the center point of Google Earth is a fun piece of trivia, but to me, it’s a powerful symbol,” Brian McClendon said in a press release. “It’s a reminder that world-changing ideas can, and do, come from a kid in an apartment in Kansas. Giving back to KU and Lawrence is a way to complete the circle. It’s ensuring that the community and university that gave me my start will continue to be a launching pad for future generations of entrepreneurs, builders and leaders.”

The $4 million gift will support professorships and a program called KUEST, which helps prepare students transitioning from high school to college, with a particular emphasis on some of the math skills needed to succeed in engineering.

The bulk of the gift, however, will fund a new endowed professorship called the Brian and Beth Ellyn McClendon Professorships at KU Engineering. McClendon said he wanted to KU to have the resources to attract professors who are on the cutting edge of emerging fields, such as artificial intelligence.

“This is a strategic investment to ensure KU’s engineering talent pipeline is secure for the future,” McClendon said.

McClendon has been active in the engineering school since returning to Lawrence several years ago. That included serving as a research professor at the university, where he taught a course called “Startup School” that helped technology founders with ideas to grow their ventures.