Frank S. Greene

Frank S. Greene
Born
Frank S. Greene Jr.

October 19, 1938
Washington, D.C.
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

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.

Education

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Greene 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

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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

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His awards and honours include:

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

Personal life

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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

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g "Dr. Frank S. Greene Jr. - Minority Engineering Program - Purdue University". www.purdue.edu. Archived from the original on 15 February 2019.
  2. ^ a b c "Dr. Frank Greene Jr: A Black Titan of Tech". Brown Venture Group. Retrieved 2020-02-22.
  3. ^ a b c d "Frank Greene, Jr.'s Biography". The HistoryMakers. Retrieved 2020-02-22.
  4. ^ a b c d Congress, United States (2010). Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates of the ... Congress. U.S. Government Printing Office.
  5. ^ a b c d "Dr. Frank S. Greene Jr". Electrical and Computer Engineering - Purdue University. Retrieved 2020-02-22.
  6. ^ Greene patent notebook (#454) | 102722962 | Computer History Museum. Fairchild Semiconductor. 8 September 1970. Retrieved 2020-02-22. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  7. ^ a b Commerce, United States Department of (1973). Access.
  8. ^ Enterprise, I. D. G. (1986-03-17). Computerworld. IDG Enterprise.
  9. ^ a b 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. ^ a b c 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. ^ a b "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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