UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Edward Frymoyer has received the Penn State Graduate School Alumni Society Lifetime Achievement Award. This award recognizes alumni who have achieved exceptional success throughout the course of their career and have demonstrated loyalty to the University and the Alumni Association.
For over 40 years, Frymoyer has played a vital role in advancing the science and information technology fields as an industry visionary, entrepreneur and advocate for the College of Information Sciences and Technology at Penn State.
Frymoyer is the founder or first mover of several companies, including Brocade, which is now part of Broadcom, Infinity I/O, which provided storage networking training services, and Pulsar Ventures, Inc., a venture capital company focused on nanotechnology, biotechnology, energy technology, and storage ecosystems in information technology.
Frymoyer is also President of Frymoyer Holdings, a real estate investment and management company.
Early in his career, Frymoyer worked for Bell Labs, Rockwell International, Collins Radio, and Hewlett-Packard. During his time at HP, he served as program manager of the Fibre Channel Systems Initiative, a joint effort of IBM, SUN Microsystems, and HP to create standard technical profiles for the fibre channel industry.
Frymoyer has provided philanthropic support and volunteer leadership to the College of Information Sciences and Technology at Penn State since it was founded in 1998. Frymoyer’s foundation established the first endowed faculty chair in the college.
James Thomas, the first dean of the college, credits Frymoyer with linking the college to Silicon Valley.
Quoting Thomas, “Introductions, sponsored meetings, and events were all part of Ed’s quest to make us known to the technology hub of the country. He was able to do this because of the great respect he commanded across Silicon Valley. His status both professionally and socially opened doors that otherwise would have been closed to us. He was the driving force behind centers, courses, even the philosophy that was the bedrock of the college even today.”
Frymoyer received two degrees from Penn State -- a bachelor’s degree in engineering science and doctorate in physics.
For his accomplishments, Frymoyer was recognized during the annual Graduate School Alumni Recognition Ceremony.