Skip to main content

Jerry Fiddler to give talk on innovation at NCSA SPIN


Illinois alumnus and technology entrepreneur Jerry Fiddler will give a talk as a part of NCSA’s SPIN (Students Pushing Innovation) open-house event at 4:30 p.m. Oct. 24 in the NCSA Auditorium. SPIN aims to identify Illinois undergraduate students to pursue innovative projects in collaboration with NCSA mentors through paid research fellowships. Fiddler will share his philosophies on innovation and his experiences as an Illinois student with interdisciplinary interests.

Fiddler—a supporter of SPIN co-sponsor eDream (the Illinois’ Emerging Digital Research and Education in Arts Media Institute)—is no stranger to working with students and fostering innovation through science and research. He has worked actively both with students and in an advisory capacity at a number of universities, including University of California Berkeley, Stanford, Wharton, and University of Illinois. He has been Foundation Capital executive-in-residence, and adjunct professor at UC Berkeley, teaching entrepreneurship and organizational behavior. He currently serves on the UC President’s advisory board on science and innovation.

As the principal of Zygote Ventures, Fiddler has helped create and grow a number of companies, as CEO, director, chairman, investor, and advisor. Fiddler is also the founder of Wind River and was CEO and Chairman for 23 years. After its establishment in 1981 in Fiddler’s Berkeley garage, Wind River grew to become the leading provider of device software worldwide, with over $400 million in annual sales, and market cap well over $1 billion. He is now the chairman of Solazyme, a biotech company working with algae for energy, industrial, and health applications. Solazyme is the first company in the world able to make production quantities of biodiesel and other algal oil products.

The SPIN kick-off will be 4 to 6 p.m. Oct. 24 in the NCSA Building (1205 W. Clark St., Urbana). Illinois student will be able to meet with NCSA staff to learn more about their research and areas of expertise. Participating SPIN organizations and projects include: Blue Waters, XSEDE, the Illinois Informatics Institute, eDream, and the Illinois Institute for Computing in Humanities, Arts, and Social Science.

Fellowship proposals must be submitted by Nov. 9. See the SPIN website for further information about the mentors and guidelines for submitting proposals: go.illinois.edu/opportunities.

Disclaimer: Due to changes in website systems, we've adjusted archived content to fit the present-day site and the articles will not appear in their original published format. Formatting, header information, photographs and other illustrations are not available in archived articles.

Back to top