Frank S. Greene

Frank S. Greene Jr. (October 19, 1938 – December 26, 2009) was an American scientist and venture capitalist. In 1993 Greene founded New Vista Capital, a venture capital firm that focussed on minority groups. He was awarded outstanding alumni awards from Washington University in St. Louis, Purdue University and Santa Clara University.

Frank S. Greene
Frank S. Green
Born
Frank S. Greene Jr.

October 19, 1938
DiedDecember 26, 2009(2009-12-26) (aged 71)
Alma materWashington University in St. Louis (Bachelors of Science [BS] )
Purdue University (MSc)
Santa Clara University (PhD)
Scientific career
InstitutionsUnited States Air Force
Technology Development Corporation
Zero One Systems

Education

Green was one of the first African-American students to study at Washington University in St. Louis.[1] He graduated with a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering and moved to Purdue University for his graduate studies.[1] In 1962, after earning a master's degree in electrical engineering Greene joined the United States Air Force. He was the first African-American cadet to graduate the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) program, eventually rising to the rank of Air Force captain.[2][1] He worked as an electronics officer, creating high performance computers for the National Security Agency.[3] He was part of the team at Fairchild Semiconductor which achieved the fastest memory chip speeds at the time.[4][5][6] After his time in the Air Force Greene returned to higher education, starting a doctoral research program at Santa Clara University.[1] He completed his doctorate in electrical engineering at Santa Clara University in 1970.[3] Greene would go on to become the first African-American person to be elected as a trustee at Santa Clara University.[1]

Career

Greene was the founding Chief Executive Officer of the Technology Development Corporation (TDC). TDC was a research and development engineering services organisation that served the federal government of the United States.[7] The projects completed by TDC included the avionics equipment for the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon, the space shuttle programme and a communication system for scuba divers.[7] When TDC was traded publicly in 1985 it had over 300 employees.[5] In 1985 Greene founded ZeroOne Systems, a supercomputing systems house.[2][8] By 1987 ZeroOne had reached annual revenues of $15 million.[5]

Greene dedicated his career to improving the representation of African-Americans in technology. He started a scholarship program in honor of his wife, Phyllis Greene, who supported the NAACP throughout her career.[9] The scholarship is for African-American scholars from the San Jose area.[9] In 1993 Greene founded New Vista Capital,[10] a venture capital firm that supports people from marginalised groups.[1][11] The Frank S. Greene scholars program was established in 2001 to support students in K–12 education in accessing mathematics and science education.[12] The program boasts an impressive success rate; with all of its graduate attending college.[12][13] The scholars program includes a science fair, monthly classes, an engineering competition, a career day and parent enrichment workshops.[13]

Awards and honours

His awards and honours include:

In 2018, Jordan Middle School in Palo Alto was renamed after Greene.[16]

Personal life

Greene was born in Washington, D.C.[3] His parents were Frank S. Greene Senior and Irma Olivia Swygert.[3] Greene was raised in St. Louis, Missouri.[4] He was raised in a segregated society and was part of the civil rights movement.[2] Greene died on December 26, 2009.[1]

References

  1. "Dr. Frank S. Greene Jr. - Minority Engineering Program - Purdue University". www.purdue.edu. Archived from the original on 15 February 2019.
  2. "Dr. Frank Greene Jr: A Black Titan of Tech". Brown Venture Group. Retrieved 2020-02-22.
  3. "Frank Greene, Jr.'s Biography". The HistoryMakers. Retrieved 2020-02-22.
  4. Congress, United States (2010). Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates of the ... Congress. U.S. Government Printing Office.
  5. "Dr. Frank S. Greene Jr". Electrical and Computer Engineering - Purdue University. Retrieved 2020-02-22.
  6. Greene patent notebook (#454) | 102722962 | Computer History Museum. 8 September 1970. Retrieved 2020-02-22. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  7. Commerce, United States Department of (1973). Access.
  8. Enterprise, I. D. G. (1986-03-17). Computerworld. IDG Enterprise.
  9. Penn Sr., William H. (1986). The NAACP Battlefront. The Crisis Publishing Company, Inc. p. 414.
  10. Cassidy, Mike (2010-01-07). "Cassidy: Silicon Valley owes plenty to venture capitalist Frank Greene". The Mercury News. Retrieved 2020-02-22.
  11. admin (2019-12-13). "Dr. Frank Greene". Retrieved 2020-02-22.
  12. University, Santa Clara. "Celebrating Black History Month: Spotlight on Frank S. Greene, Ph.D. '70 (1938-2009)". www.scu.edu. Retrieved 2020-02-22.
  13. "STEM | Greene Scholars Program | African American". greenescholars. Retrieved 2020-02-22.
  14. Kenrick, Sue Dremann and Chris. "Frank Greene, Silicon Valley technology pioneer, dies at 71". www.paloaltoonline.com. Retrieved 2020-02-22.
  15. "Silicon Valley Engineering Council – Hall of Fame". www.svec.org. Retrieved 2020-02-22.
  16. Kelly, Kevin (29 March 2018). "Palo Alto: Middle schools to be named after Frank Greene Jr., Ellen Fletcher". The Mercury News. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
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