Dr. Edward M. Frymoyer, an early supporter and benefactor of the School of Information Sciences and Technology (IST), has been named a Distinguished Alumnus by the Penn State Board of Trustees.
Frymoyer was one of eight selected this year for the award, the highest honor given by the university. The award recognizes the personal and professional achievements of alumni as well as their community contributions.
A founding member of the IST advisory board, Frymoyer has endowed a faculty chair in IST as well as two student scholarships. In addition to serving on the IST Grand Destiny committee, Frymoyer serves on the Penn State Research Foundation Board. His other honors include Outstanding Engineering Alumni and Alumni Fellow awards.
A 1959 graduate of the College of Engineering, Frymoyer earned his doctorate in physics from Penn State in 1967. Early in his career, he worked for Bell Labs, Rockwell International/Collin Radio and Hewlett-Packard. He since has started several companies specializing in storage area networks (SAN). In 2001, he founded Pulsar Ventures, Inc., a venture capital firm based in California that targets start-up companies in nanotechnology, biotechnology and storage ecosystems. Pulsar has funded NanoHorizons, a nanotechnology firm commercializing Penn State research.
Frymoyer is a pioneer in the development of SAN and is one of the founders of the storage networking/fibre channel industry. He holds multiple career patents.
Today Frymoyer serves as a partner in Infinity I/O, a global information technology training company focusing on information logistics; president of Frymoyer Holdings, a real estate investment and management company; chairman of EMF Associates, a consulting firm specializing in storage area networks, communications technologies and market research; and board member of NanoHorizons.
He also is a board member of the Charles Darwin Foundation that supports conservation and research in the Galapagos Islands and president of Frymoyer Foundation which provides philanthropic support to educational, scientific and environmental projects.
Those organizations receiving gifts and grants from Frymoyer and the Frymoyer Foundation include: Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, Calif., committed to the rescue, rehabilitation and release of marine mammals; Coastside Medical Center for its pediatric program for underinsured children and for the establishment of a non-profit medical resource for Coastside residents; "Back to Basics" program of Half Moon Bay area schools for books and supplies; Sor Juana Inés Services for Abused Women in San Mateo, Calif.; and the Digital Equalizer Project of the America India Foundation which is outfitting a school in rural southern India.
