New university concentrates on IT

Google and several technology entrepreneurs plan to open a new university in Silicon Valley this June that will offer information technology and scientific courses, according to the new institution, Singularity University.

Singularity University is being launched with assistance from NASA and will be located at the NASA Research Park campus at the NASA Ames Research Center in Moffett Field Calif., according to an announcement made Feb. 3.

The university will offer a nine-week graduate-level interdisciplinary curriculum that will focus on 10 fields of study: future studies and forecasting; networks and computing systems; biotechnology and bioinformatics; nanotechnology; medicine, neuroscience and human enhancement; artificial intelligence, robotics, and cognitive computing; energy and ecological systems; space and physical sciences; policy, law and ethics; and finance and entrepreneurship, the institution said.

The university is modeled after the International Space University, founded at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1987, it also said.

The new institution will lease space on NASA's Research Park campus and plans to have a permanent facility in the future, according to the announcement. The university’s co-founders are Raymond Kurzweil and Peter Diamandis. Kurzweil is an author and inventor. Diamandis is the founder of the X Prize Foundation, which sponsors competitions designed to spur advancement in various fields.

Google donated at least $250,000 to the university and seven associate founders donated at least $100,000 each, according to the university's Web site. The cost for students to attend the university has not been set, according to the school's site.