Singularity University Appoints Vivek Wadhwa Vice President of Academics and Innovation

Technology executive known for pioneering change and leading innovation will lead Academic and Research Programs and expand SU’s global network

Mountain View, CA (December 1, 2011) — Singularity University (SU) has announced the appointment of Vivek Wadhwa, a highly respected international scholar, entrepreneur and writer, as Vice President of Academics and Innovation. Mr. Wadhwa will oversee faculty and curricula development and international outreach for Singularity University, which uniquely focuses on the impact and incubation of exponentially growing technologies to solve humanity’s grand challenges.

“I’m thrilled to have Vivek as a senior member of the Singularity University team.  His global vision and network will allow SU to fulfill its mission of inspiring and working with business leaders, scholars and innovators around the world,” said Dr. Peter H. Diamandis, Co-Founder and Chairman of Singularity University. “Vivek will lead SU in building and strengthening both its academic and research programs.”

 “Vivek brings a perfect blend of entrepreneurship and academics to this newly established role at Singularity,” “He is active in thinking about the future of technology and education and how we can develop these strengths to solve the grand challenges that face humanity,” said Singularity University CEO Rob Nail.

“I am joining SU because I strongly believe it to be one of the few institutions in the world that can positively impact humanity by teaching current and future world leaders, CEOs, entrepreneurs and innovators about exponentially advancing technologies,” said Wadhwa. “Few are aware of the rapid advances occurring in the diverse fields of robotics, artificial intelligence, medicine, biotechnology and computing and how these technologies are rapidly converging to enable solutions to our world’s grand challenges.”

Vivek Wadhwa has also accepted a fellowship at the Arthur & Toni Rembe Rock Center for Corporate Governance, Stanford University. He will act as a bridge between Stanford and Singularity Universities. Additionally, Wadhwa is Director of Research, Center for Entrepreneurship and Research Commercialization, and Exec in Residence, Pratt School of Engineering, Duke University; Senior Research Associate, Labor and Worklife Program, Harvard Law School; Distinguished Visiting Scholar, Halle Institute of Global Learning, Emory University; and Visiting Scholar, School of Information, UC-Berkeley. He is also an advisor to several start-up companies, a columnist for The Washington Post and Bloomberg BusinessWeek, and writes occasionally for several international publications.

Prior to joining academia in 2005, Wadhwa founded two software companies. As Vice President of Information Services for CS First Boston, he spearheaded the technology development of new computer systems, which became Seer Technologies.  As Seer’s Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Wadhwa helped grow the nascent startup into a $118 million publicly traded company. Subsequently, Wadhwa founded Relativity Technologies, where he was named a Leader of Tomorrow by Forbes.com and Relativity called one of the 25 coolest companies in the world by Fortune Magazine.

Vivek Wadhwa earned an MBA from New York University and a B.A. in Computing Studies from the University of Canberra, in Australia.  He is founding president of the Carolinas chapter of The IndUS Entrepreneurs (TIE), a non-profit global network intended to foster entrepreneurship.  He has been featured in thousands of articles publications, worldwide including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes Magazine, The Washington Post, The New York Times, U.S. News and World Report, and Science Magazine and has appeared on U.S. and international TV stations, including CNN, ABC, NBC, CNBC, and the BBC.

About Singularity University

Singularity University’s mission is to assemble, educate and inspire a new generation of leaders in business, science, finance and government who strive to understand and utilize exponentially advancing technologies to address humanity’s grand challenges. Founding Partners include NASA, Autodesk, Cisco, Google, Kauffman Foundation, Nokia, and ePlanet Ventures. Since its founding in 2009, SU has hosted students and industry leaders from 40 countries at its campus at NASA-Ames Research Park, Calif.

SU offers both graduate studies and executive programs focused on the impact and incubation of exponentially growing technologies in six key areas: medicine and neuroscience, networks and computing systems, artificial intelligence and robotics, biotechnology/bioinformatics, nanotechnology, and energy and environmental systems.

For more information, and participation in SU programs, visit www.singularityu.org. Join SU discussions at www.twitter.com/singularityu

Contact: Diane Murphy: diane@singularityu.org

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