Connect

Marthin De Beer, Senior Vice President, Emerging Technologies Group at Cisco, speaks about his process for going from idea to billion dollar business. Filmed during the 2009 Graduate Summer Program at Singularity University.

Singularity University (SU) announced the dates for the second year of its Graduate Studies Program (GSP), and a 200% class size increase to accommodate 80 of the top students from around the globe. In addition, SU is pleased to announce the availability of numerous full and partial scholarships for the GSP.

“The past year has demonstrated tremendous global challenges, and demonstrated a significant shift in the zeitgeist for exponential and accelerating technologies,” said Dr. Ray Kurzweil, co-founder and chancellor, Singularity University. “Exponential technologies, such as nanotechnology and robotics, have the scale to meet the demands of the current and coming global challenges. Singularity University fosters students’ understanding of these accelerating technologies to create a better and more productive world.”

Ten Weeks of Study, A Lifetime of Innovation

The Graduate Summer Program is a ten-week 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. In addition to lectures and workshops with world-class leaders, students can also participate in hands-on excursions to leading Silicon Valley labs and companies, Zero G sub-orbital flights, and exposure to NASA’s many technologies. Concluding with a challenging group project to positively affect humanity’s grand challenges, the Graduate Studies Program will begin June 19 and end with Closing Ceremonies on August 28.

Newly designed for 80 graduate and post-graduate students, participants in the summer program are chosen based on their level of expertise in individual “tracks,” demonstrated entrepreneurial and leadership skills, and their commitment to addressing and solving important issues facing our world. Taught by the leading minds in their respective fields, the Graduate Studies Program tracks include: future studies and forecasting; policy, law and ethics; finance and entrepreneurship; networks and computing systems; biotechnology and bioinformatics; nanotechnology; medicine, neuroscience and human enhancement; AI and robotics; energy and ecological systems; and space and physical sciences.

“The biggest issues facing the world today, such as the financial crisis, swine flu and aspects of climate change, are all rooted in accelerating and exponential factors,” said Sonia Arrison, Board Member at Singularity University and Senior Fellow at Pacific Research Institute. “The Graduate Studies Program is an excellent opportunity for graduate and post-graduate students to enhance their traditional academic work with an interdisciplinary deep dive into groundbreaking innovations and disruptive technologies that can address these exponential factors, and provide an ‘over-the-horizon view’ so as to better manage and navigate them. Based on the early work of the inaugural GSP class, we expect the effects of GSP graduates to be far-reaching and positively affect humanity’s challenges.”

Becoming a Student of Singularity University’s GSP-10

The Graduate Studies Program is an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to study and exchange knowledge and information with the leading minds of today, and the leaders of tomorrow. Students and graduates also become part of Singularity University Network (SUN), enabling on-going connections with the community of other students, faculty, and staff – a valuable business resource.

Applications are now being accepted for the second Graduate Studies Program, and demand is high for the limited number of spots still available. A number of full and partial tuition scholarships are available to qualified students. For more information and to apply, please visit http://singularityu.org/programs/graduate-studies-program/.