Issue link: http://cp.revolio.com/i/1161
h+: What are some of the directions for the university, some areas of study or some speakers that you think are the most exciting, or are the most exciting for you, that will be coming up? PD: Well, we have this partnership with NASA and with Google, and we're in discussions with a number of other major high-tech companies in Silicon Valley. And we have the courses of computational network systems, AI and robotics, human-machine interface… those are exciting. h+: Earlier in the conversation, you were saying that you hoped people who come to SU go on and start companies and projects and so forth. Are you planning to do follow-through and maintain contacts with people who participate in this? PD: Oh, absolutely. And we're going to be teaching the students who come to SU about entrepreneurship and finance. And the students who come up with great business ideas… we're going to have a pitch day to the venture capital community at the end of the program. And we're also creating a program we call the one percent club. So students who donate one percent of the equity of their company to SU will be given prominent notice. Also, besides the summer program, there will be three-day and ten-day executive programs. And CEOs, CTOs, CMOs of companies will come to get some of what I call forward-looking radar. Any CEO who's not worried significantly about the future of their company, or doesn't recognize the power of these exponentially-growing technologies could have to transform their industry, needs to be. h+: I've talked to some people who have the expectation that SU is going to solve really big hard problems. Should people have the expectations that you're really actually going to solve some of the big ones? PD: I think we're mostly going to get to grapple with what the technologies could do once they come into existence. And I think having a clearly defined idea of that is the first step in solving problems that will emerge So is understanding what the problem is and what the technologies might be. But… you guys know I chair the X PRIZE as well? h+: Right. PD: So I think there will be a relationship between SU and X PRIZE. The X PRIZE Foundation is focusing on those same big problems and creating prize purses, defining the grand challenge in an objective, measurable, clear way and then setting up a large cash purse for the person who achieves it. And I hope a lot of the SU graduates will actually form teams to compete for some of these grand challenges.