Frank S. Greene

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]

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]

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]