The purpose of this endowment is to provide assistance to undergraduate students in the Department of Computer Science & Engineering.
Ken Burkhardt earned his Bachelor's degree in Physics from Cornell University and his Master's degree in Computer Science from Rutgers University. He graduated in 1975 with a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Washington. Dr. Burkhardt spent eight years in academia as a faculty member at the UW and at Rutgers University. During this time he was also Vice President of Systems at Intec, Inc., an early pioneer in the electronic weighing industry. He left academia to become the chief system architect in the Unisys workstation group. In 1983, together with two other cofounders, he started Dialogic Corporation, the market share leader in the call processing and automated telephone industries. Dr. Burkhardt and his partners grew the company to 1,400 employees and then sold it to Intel Corporation in July of 1999. In February of 2000 he was appointed Chairman and CEO of Aloha Networks, a startup in satellite Internet communications. He left Aloha Networks in 2004 to become President of Verbier Ventures, LLC a consulting and investment management firm.
Dr. Burkhardt has served on the boards of a number of public and private companies and has been a member of the visiting committee of the College of Engineering. He is married with three children and four grand children and spends his spare time skiing, surfing and biking. He is also one of the founders of the University of Washington Lacrosse Club.
Dr. Burkhardt appreciates the education and opportunities that were offered to him as a doctoral student in the UW Department of Computer Science & Engineering. By establishing this endowed scholarship, he is securing financial assistance for undergraduate students who might otherwise not be able to afford a University of Washington education.
The award will be based on financial need. Financial need shall be determined by the Office of Student Financial Aid.
This scholarship is available only to students currently enrolled as Computer Science or Computer Engineering majors at the University of Washington.