10/18/2022 Grainger Engineering
The 2022 Hall of Fame class for The Grainger College of Engineering includes three Illinois Computer Science alumni - Steve Chen, Jerry Fiddler, and Jawed Karim.
Written by Grainger Engineering
The Grainger College of Engineering Hall of Fame commemorates the most significant accomplishments throughout the history of Grainger Engineering—accomplishments that have a great impact on society and that represent excellence in engineering leadership, entrepreneurship, and innovation.
This year’s Hall of Fame class recognizes three Illinois Computer Science alumni whose contributions impact our lives every day. Grainger Engineering empowers tomorrow’s leaders, equipping them for a lifetime of collaboration, innovation, and discovery. Their solutions build the future for generations to come and they are trusted leaders in their industries who offer solutions to global problems.
From real-time embedded software products including those used in the Mars Pathfinder and Stardust projects to internet technology innovations, this year’s class fully embodies the entrepreneurial spirit.
Congratulations to the following honorees:
Steve Chen
For his entrepreneurial spirit as a co-founder of YouTube and for his internet technology innovations.
Steve Chen was the co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of YouTube. He first arrived in Silicon Valley in 1999 to join PayPal and later joined forces with two of his colleagues to develop YouTube.
Chen was instrumental in building YouTube into a viral video phenomenon. He helped lead YouTube through the Google acquisition for $1.65 billion less than a year after launching the site. As the company's key technologist, Chen is credited with developing the company’s massive data centers and helping build YouTube into a premier entertainment destination and one of the most popular Web sites on the Internet today.
In 2005, he joined Facebook for several months before starting YouTube. He is also co-founder of AVOS Systems, which builds a common technology platform to speed app development and whose products help people create, find, and share multimedia content.
He was honored with The Grainger College of Engineering Department of Computer Science’s Young Alumni Achievement Award in 2014.
Degrees
- Attendee, Computer Science, The Grainger College of Engineering
Jerry Fiddler
For his contributions to society in the development of real-time embedded software products including those used in the Mars Pathfinder and Stardust projects.
Jerry Fiddler began his career in real-time minicomputer control systems at Lawrence Berkeley Lab, controlling large physics devices like nuclear accelerators and a fusion reactor. Drawing on that experience, he was a pioneer of using the then-new microprocessors to replace minicomputers and mainframes to create the field of embedded computing. The company he founded and led for 23 years, Wind River, created the VxWorks operating system that controls myriad devices, from the large (submarines, power plants) to the small (anti-lock brakes, telephones). VxWorks is known for its reliability in devices like the control computer for the Boeing 787, internet switches and routers, defibrillators and patient bedside monitors. By being the first to bring full networking to the embedded world, Wind River enabled what is now called IoT (internet of things). Today, VxWorks is in hundreds of millions (perhaps billions) of devices that people use every day, without even knowing that they’re using a computer. Perhaps a few of his favorite applications are in outer space. The Mars rovers run on the VxWorks operating system that he helped to create, as do numerous other space probes, satellites and landers.
After leaving Wind River in 2003, Fiddler became an angel investor and adviser, helping to create and fund numerous startups. He created and became the principal of Zygote Ventures, which funds early stage startups. He was chairman of Solazyme, the first biotech that used algae to create oil and foods, and served as a board director to numerous other companies in tech and biotech. He also acts as a “mentor” with several other venture funds, helping various companies and executives.
Fiddler was board president and interim CEO of Chabot Space and Science Center. He has been a trustee of the California Jazz Conservatory, the Mathematics Science and Research Institute, and was on the University of California president’s advisory board.
Fiddler created his own unique path while completing his undergraduate degree at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He studied five different undergrad majors and finished with a double major in music and photography, followed by a master’s degree in computer science. This led him to create The Jerry Fiddler Innovation Endowment Fund at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, to foster those who have interests and passions that don’t fit within any existing major or school.
Fiddler is still a serious amateur musician and photographer. You can find links to his music and photography at jerryfiddler.com.
Degrees
- BS, Individual Plan of Study, Liberal Arts & Sciences, 1974
- MS, Computer Science, The Grainger College of Engineering, 1977
Jawed Karim
For his entrepreneurial spirit as a co-founder of YouTube and support of other entrepreneurs as a mentor and investor.
Jawed Karim is the co-founder of YouTube, the second-most visited website after Google, serving over 5 billion videos per day worldwide as of 2022.
Karim entered The Grainger College of Engineering’s Computer Science program in 1997, having been inspired by alumni Marc Andreessen, co-creator of the Mosaic web browser at National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA). His enthusiasm led him to begin working part-time at NCSA before his classes started on campus. During his junior year, he was introduced to Max Levchin, future co-founder of PayPal, via a fellow undergraduate student, Russ Simmons, who would later co-found Yelp.
Prior to graduating, Karim became one of the earliest engineers at PayPal where he helped develop the real-time antifraud systems. He and a group of his colleagues later became known as the "PayPal Mafia” - 23 tech entrepreneurs, many of whom are fellow alumni of University of Illinois.
In 2005 he teamed up with his PayPal colleagues Chad Hurley and Steve Chen to co-found YouTube, which first began as a video-based dating website. Karim developed the concept and product with Hurley and Chen and raised the first round of financing from Sequoia Capital. He subsequently formed the investment firm YVentures with Keith Rabois and Kevin Hartz, which helps entrepreneurs to move their innovative products into the marketplace. YVentures became an investor in Airbnb’s initial seed round in 2009.
He was honored with The Grainger College of Engineering Department of Computer Science’s Young Alumni Achievement Award in 2014 and was the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign commencement speaker in 2007.
Degrees
- BS, Computer Science, The Grainger College of Engineering, 2004
- MS, Computer Science, Stanford University, 2008
See the Grainger Engineering 2022 Hall of Fame class.