• Singularity University (SU) is announcing the 40 students participating in the inaugural Graduate Studies Program (GSP)
• Students will use multiple social media channels to share insights and experiences throughout the GSP
• Home towns, background, and education for each student are included in individual SU profile URLs
• Twenty-five students received full or partial scholarships from Singularity University, and Singularity University Corporate Founding Sponsors, Google and ePlanet Ventures
• GSP kicked off at NASA Ames, Moffett Field on June 29, 2009 and concludes August 28, 2009

Summary

Singularity University — the new academic institution with the goal of preparing the next generation of leaders to address “humanity’s grand challenges” — today named the 40 students participating in the inaugural Graduate Studies Program (GSP). Hailing from 13 countries, and from a cross-range of academic and business backgrounds, the students of Singularity University truly represent the next generation of leaders and innovators to address the major issues facing our world. And, throughout the summer program, students will share insights and daily experiences using social media channels, such as WordPress, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Picasa.

The summer class is composed of 26 men and 14 women, ranging in age from 22 to 47 years old. The 13 nations represented are: USA, Canada, Israel, United Kingdom, Mexico, Brazil, India, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Turkey, Czech Republic, and Russia.

Singularity University is modeled after the successful International Space University, founded at MIT in 1987, which has become one of the leading interdisciplinary, international and intercultural institutions for the study of space. The GSP is a nine-week graduate-level interdisciplinary curriculum designed to facilitate understanding, collaboration, and innovation across a broad range of carefully chosen scientific and technological disciplines whose developments are exponentially accelerating. SU summer program classes began June 29, 2009, based at NASA Ames Research Park on Moffett Field.

Highlights

“For more than a month, we’ve been working and participating in classes, lectures and events with the Graduate Studies Program students,” said Salim Ismail, Executive Director at Singularity University. “Their focus, entrepreneurship and experience led us to select them for the program. But, their dynamic thinking, innovative concepts, and drive to fundamentally change how we think and do things today is making even our world-class faculty and advisors take notice. Great things will come from these students — they are an impressive group.”

The Graduate Studies Program students include:

• Alexander Bobrovnikov
  Hometown: Moscow, Russian Federation
  Track: Future Studies & Forecasting
  Education: Russian Federation, State University

• Bentley Turner
  Hometown: Birmingham, Alabama, USA
  Track: Finance & Entrepreneurship
  Education: Birmingham Southern College

• Bj Price
  Hometown: Orlando, Florida, USA
  Track: Artificial Intelligence & Robotics
  Education: University of Carolina at Chapel Hill; University of Central Florida

• Christian Tom
  Hometown: New York, NY, USA
  Track: Policy, Law & Ethics
  Education: Stanford University

• Collin Bockman
  Hometown: Okoboji, Iowa, USA
  Track: Policy, Law & Ethics
  Education: University of Iowa College of Law

• Devin Fidler
  Hometown: Boulder, Colorado, USA
  Track: Future Studies & Forecasting
  Education: University of Colorado, Corvinus University

• Gloria Vargas
  Hometown: London, United Kingdom
  Track: Finance & Entrepreneurship
  Education: George Mason University; Thunderbird School of Global Management

• Gregory Wientjes
  Hometown: Stanford, California, USA
  Track: Networks & Computing Systems
  Education: Stanford University

• Holley Abrams
  Hometown: Boise, Idaho, USA
  Track: Medicine, Neuroscience & Human Enhancement
  Education: Oregon State University; Charles University, First Faculty of Medicine

• Jessica Scorpio
  Hometown: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
  Track: Policy, Law & Ethics
  Education: Carleton University

• Jovan Rebolledo
  Hometown: Coatepec, Veracruz, Mexico
  Track: Biotechnology & Bioinformatics
  Education: Kanazawa University

• Justyna Zander
  Hometown: Poland
  Track: Networks & Computing Systems
  Education: Gdansk University of Technology; Technical University Berlin

• Lale Basarir
  Hometown: Istanbul, Turkey
  Track: Future Studies & Forecasting
  Education: Istanbul Technical University, CCAC (California College of Arts & Crafts), Gazi University

• Laurence Hayes
  Hometown: London, United Kingdom
  Track: Medicine, Neuroscience & Human Enhancement
  Education: Imperial College London & University of Exeter School of Law

• Luke Hutchison
  Hometown: Torbay, Auckland, New Zealand
  Track: Artificial Intelligence & Robotics
  Education: MIT

• Margo Liptsin
  Hometown: Mountain View, California, USA
  Track: Policy, Law & Ethics
  Education: Stanford University

• Marianne Ryan
  Hometown: Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
  Track: Policy, Law & Ethics
  Education: University of Michigan; Yale Law School; Trinity College

• Neil Thompson
  Hometown: Toronto, Canada
  Track: Finance & Entrepreneurship
  Education: UC Berkeley; London School of Economics; Queen’s University

• Nitesh Banta
  Hometown: Boston, Massachusetts, USA
  Track: Finance & Entrepreneurship
  Education: Harvard University

• Nuno Martins
  Hometown: Vieira do Minho, Portugal
  Track: Nanotechnology
  Education: University of Minho

• Pankaj Maheshwari
  Hometown: Gwalior, India; Houston, Texas, USA
  Track: Finance & Entrepreneurship
  Education: NITIE, Mumbai

• Paul Lem
  Hometown: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
  Track: Biotechnology & Bioinformatics
  Education: University of Toronto

• Rex Lee
  Hometown: South Korea
  Track: Nanotechnology
  Education: University of Waterloo

• Rod Furlan
  Hometown: Delta, British Columbia, Canada
  Track: Networks & Computing Systems

• Ross Shott
  Hometown: Houston, Texas, USA
  Track: Future Studies & Forecasting
  Education: Thomas Edison State College, University of Houston

• Sam Zaid
  Hometown: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
  Track: Artificial Intelligence & Robotics
  Education: Queen’s University

• Santiago Hernandez
  Hometown: San Diego, California, United States
  Track: Medicine, Neuroscience & Human Enhancement
  Education: Stanford University; Case Western Reserve School of Medicine

• Sarah Sclarsic
  Hometown: Boston, Massachusetts, USA
  Track: Policy, Law & Ethics
  Education: Harvard University; University of Michigan Medical School

• Shai Machnes
  Hometown: Tel-Aviv, Israel
  Track: Space & Physical Sciences
  Education: Tel-Aviv University

• Shawna Pandya
  Hometown: Sherwood Park, Alberta, Canada
  Track: Medicine, Neuroscience & Human Enhancement
  Education: University of Alberta, International Space University

• Simon Daniel
  Hometown: London, United Kingdom
  Track: Energy & Ecological Systems
  Education: Cambridge University

• Sofya Yampolsky
  Hometown: Boston, Massachusetts, USA
  Track: Future Studies & Forecasting
  Education: Mass. College of Art & Design, The New School for Social Research

• Tasha McCauley
  Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee, USA
  Track: Energy & Ecological Systems
  Education: Bard College; Vanderbilt University

• Tim Coleman
  Hometown: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
  Track: Space & Physical Sciences
  Education: Bachelor of Arts in History, Georgetown University

• Vijai Anma
  Hometown: Seattle, Washington, USA
  Track: Computer Science & Engineering
  Education: University of Madras

• Yitzhack Schwartz
  Hometown: Haifia, Israel
  Track: Medicine, Neuroscience & Human Enhancement
  Education: Technion – Israel Institute of Technology

• Yonatan Adiri
  Hometown: Herzlia, Israel
  Track: Policy, Law & Ethics
  Education: Open University

• Zubin Wadia
  Hometown: Mumbai, India / White Plains, New York
  Track: Networks & Computing Systems
  Education: Pace University