Innovative entrepreneurs are critical to California's
economic well-being. In order to encourage
their success, CCST Council Member
Fariborz Maseeh has donated $1.03 million
to fund the creation of the Maseeh Entrepreneurship
Prize Competition (MEPC) for engineering
students at the University of Southern
California Viterbi School of Engineering.
"There is no other field like engineering where
you have the power to create real change and
solve problems that improve the world for
everyone," said Maseeh. "Most engineers are
tremendously skilled, but they're not necessarily
entrepreneurial. This competition will
encourage engineers to think like entrepreneurs
as they work to win this prize."
The announcement took place at the 2010
National Academy of Engineering Grand
Challenges Summit hosted at the University of
Southern California from October 6-8.
Maseeh, who was appointed a CCST Council
member in 2010, is founder and managing
principal of Picoco LLC, an investment management
firm which invests in various assets
and manages several hedge funds. He also is
the sole founder and president of the Massiah
Foundation, a charitable organization which
invests in transformational situations for broad
public benefit. He is a worldwide recognized
expert in the field of micro-electro mechanical
systems (MEMS). He founded IntelliSense in
1991 with the vision of reducing the time and
expense of creating next-generation MEMS
devices. Under his leadership, IntelliSense
successfully created the first custom design, development, and manufacturing MEMS
operation.
He said he chose USC for the award because
it has the resources to assure success for its
students.
"USC is a great fit for this award because of the
school's tradition of engineering success, top
leadership, and a commitment to a vision for
a better world for their students and everyone
their efforts impact," Maseeh said. "The school's
namesake and founding donor, [former CCST
Council Member] Andrew Viterbi, himself an
electrical engineer, entrepreneur and philanthropist,
set the bar that we're hoping the
award helps the students reach."
