As some of you may know, I have been working as chair of computing and networking at Singularity University. The most rewarding part of that job is our ten week summer Graduate Studies Program. GSP15 will be our 7th year of it. This program takes 80 students from around the world (typically over 30 countries and only 10-15% from North America) and gives them 5 weeks of lectures on technology trends in a dozen major fields, and then 5 weeks of forming into teams to try to apply that knowledge and thinking to launch projects that can seriously change the world. (We set them the goal of having the potential to help a billion people in 10 years.)

The classes have all been fantastic, and many of the projects have gone on to be going concerns. A lot of the students come in with one plan for their life and leave with another.

It's about to get better. One big problem was that the program is expensive. Last year we charged almost $30,000 (it includes room and board) and most of the scholarships were sponsored competitions in different countries and regions. This limits who can come.

Larry Page and Google helped found Singularity U in 2009, and has stepped up massively this year with a scholarship fund that assures that all accepted students will attend free of charge. Students will either get in through one of the global contests, or be accepted by the admissions team and given a full scholarship. It means we'll be able to select from the best students in the world, regardless of whether they can afford the cost.

In spite of the name, SU is not really about "the singularity" and not anything like a traditional university. The best way to figure it out is to read the testimonials of the graduates.

Students come in many age ranges -- we have had early 20s to late 50s, with a mix of backgrounds in technology, business, design and art. Show us you're a rising star (or a star that has done it before and is ready to do it again even bigger) and consider applying.

Speaking at SU

In the rest of the year we do a lot of shorter programs, from a couple of days to a week, aimed at providing a compressed view of the future of technology and its implications to a different crowd -- typically corporate, entrepreneur and investor based. As that grows, we need more speakers, and I'm particularly interested in finding new folks to add related to computing and networking technologies. We do this all over the planet, which can be a mix of rewarding and draining, though about half the events are in Silicon Valley. There are 3 things I am looking for:

• The chops and expertise in your field to do a cutting edge talk -- why do we start listening to you?
• Great speaking skills -- why do we keep listening to you?
• All else being equal, I seek more great female and minority speakers to reverse Silicon Valley's imbalances, which we suffer as well.

Is this you, or do you have somebody to recommend? Contact me (btm@templetons.com) for more details. While top-flight people generally have some of their own work to talk about, and I do use speakers sometimes on very specific topics, the ideal speaker is a great teacher who can cover many topics for audiences who are very smart but not always from engineering backgrounds.

Our next public event is March 12-14 in Seville, Spain -- if you're in Europe try to make it.