SINGULARITY UNIVERSITY OPENS 2012 SUMMER GRADUATE STUDIES PROGRAM
- 80 participants from 36 countries to attend Silicon Valley’s highly selective program focused on Exponential Technologies
- Eric Ries joins SU Faculty
- Opening Ceremonies on June 18 in Mountain View, CA
Mountain View, CA (Thursday, June 14, 2012) – For 10 weeks this summer, 80 graduate and post-graduate level innovators, researchers, NGO leaders, and entrepreneurs from 36 countries will come to Singularity University (SU) in Silicon Valley to change our world. As participants in the 2012 Graduate Studies Program (GSP12), they will be immersed in an unparalleled learning environment focused on identifying and using rapidly accelerating technologies to find solutions focused on humanity’s Grand Challenges: Energy, Food, Water, Environment, Security, Poverty, Global Health, and Education. At the end of the 10-week program, SU student teams will develop 10⁹+ Team Projects with the mission of positively impacting the lives of a billion people in the next10 years.
Singularity University’s GSP program brings together a diverse group of the most accomplished experts in academics, science, technology, business, and government with the top graduate and post-graduate level innovators, researchers, NGO and entrepreneurial leaders from around the globe. GSP12 begins June 16 and runs through August 26, at Singularity University’s campus at NASA Research Park, Moffett Field, Calif.
“We are poised to welcome an exceptionally strong class to Singularity University this summer that is both culturally rich and demographically diverse, with participants from six new countries and an increased pool of women, “ said SU CEO Rob Nail. “This greater diversity helps us better identify needs around the world, brings a wealth of knowledge for dealing with various governments and economies and further allows our teams to make a global impact.”
The SU GSP core curriculum is structured to provide a broad, cross-disciplinary understanding of the biggest ideas and issues in transformative technologies to identify and explore exponential trends and their potential implications and opportunities over the next decade.
Two new tracks have been added for GSP12: Design and Entrepreneurship. The new Design Track will be led by Autodesk industry executive Jonathan Knowles, who will explore how exponentially growing technologies are transforming virtually every aspect of design, changing how design happens, who does the work of design, and what people will be able to design. The track will focus on five key aspects: Design Technologies, Design Paradigms, Design Processes, Design Stakeholders and the impact on the Design industry.
Eric Ries joins the SU Faculty in 2012, and will lead the expanded Entrepreneurship track, which teaches the fundamentals of transforming ideas into invention and inventions into world-changing enterprises.
“Eric Ries is a pioneer of the lean startup movement, which focuses on building products through rapid iteration and customer feedback,” said SU’s VP of Academics and Innovation Vivek Wadhwa. “He has coached thousands of entrepreneurs on how to launch successful companies. With Eric on our faculty, I expect that we will exponentially increase the odds that our graduates create successful companies that positively impact humanity.”
More than 3000 people applied for the 2012 Graduate Studies Program. Of the 80 selected, two-thirds have post-graduate degrees, and 10 percent are currently pursuing a PhD or equivalent degree. Countries represented are Algeria, Argentina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Estonia, France, Germany, Ghana, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Mexico, Netherlands, Nigeria, Pakistan, Palestine, Poland, Russia, Spain, Sudan, Sweden, Switzerland, UK, and the US.
Twenty of the students selected were winners of Singularity University’s Global Impact Competitions run by Singularity University. These competitions are conducted with the support of local partners to develop and implement projects to positively impact people in their local regions.
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 use exponentially advancing technologies to address humanity’s grand challenges. Corporate Partners include Autodesk, Cisco, ePlanet Ventures, Genentech, Google, Kauffman Foundation, and Nokia. Since 2009, SU has hosted students and industry leaders from more than 70 countries at its campus at NASA Research Park, Moffett Field, CA.
SU offers a Summer Graduate Studies Program and numerous Executive Programs throughout the year focused on the impact and incubation of exponentially advancing technologies in the key areas of medicine and neuroscience, networks and computing systems, artificial intelligence and robotics, biotechnology and bioinformatics, nanotechnology, space and physical science, and energy and environmental systems. SU programs focus on the intersection of these areas with each other and with policy, law, and ethics; design; entrepreneurship; finance and economics; and futures studies and forecasting.
For more information, visit www.SingularityU.org
Media is invited to attend Singularity University GSP12 Opening Ceremonies and Classes, but must register in advance. Contact Diane Murphy (diane@singularityu.org); T. +1.202.361.9681.
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