It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No, it’s SU! Singularity University, that is. With the world facing an economic downturn rivaling that of the Depression-era ’30s (which launched Superman, by the way), Google, along with NASA and the X PRIZE Foundation, have decided to build their own world saver. They’re launching SU as an interdisciplinary grad-level university that aims to tackle the world’s biggest problems. No phone booth required.
According to the press release announcing the initiative, Singularity University opens in June in the NASA Research Park at Moffett Field, Calif. It offers a nine-week graduate-level curriculum designed to “facilitate understanding, collaboration and innovation across a broad range of carefully chosen scientific and technological disciplines whose developments are exponentially accelerating.”
The school’s founding team is a veritable who’s who of science, and includes:
* Author and futurist, Dr. Ray Kurzweil;
* Space entrepreneur and chairman of the X PRIZE Foundation, Dr. Peter Diamandis;
* Director of NASA’s Ames Research Center, Pete Worden;
* Co-founder of the International Space University, Dr. Robert Richards; and
* International Space University President Dr. Michael Simpson.
It also includes a group of Associate Founders who have contributed philanthropic capital, time and key relationships. The school will be headed up by former Yahoo-er Salim Ismail.
All in all, a pretty impressive list–with even more impressive goals. Google truly believes in the power of information-sharing to improve life on the planet, and an interdisciplinary university like SU fits right into its worldview. Wonder what enterprise search engine the school will standardize on…
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