Jeff is Chief Technology Officer of palmOne and Executive Director of the Redwood Neuroscience Institute.

Jeff brings over 20 years of technical expertise to his role as palmOne’s Chief Technology Officer. Jeff founded Palm Computing in 1992 and co-founded Handspring with Donna Dubinsky and Ed Colligan in July of 1998. He led the development of many handheld computing products including the PalmPilot, PalmV, Visor, and Treo smart phones. He also was the architect of key technologies such as Graffiti handwriting recognition software and one-touch synchronization known as HotSync. He is often credited as being the father of the handheld computing industry.

His interest in mobile computing dates back to the 1980s, when as vice president of research at GRiD Systems Corporation, he served as principal architect and designer for several innovative mobile computers such as the GRiDPad and GRiD Convertible. Prior to that, he held key technical positions with Intel Corporation.

In addition to his role at palmOne, Hawkins is also is the Founder and Executive Director of the non-profit Redwood Neuroscience Institute (RNI), a scientific research institute located in Menlo Park, CA. Established in August 2002, RNI’s mission is to study and promote biologically accurate mathematical models of cortical memory and cognition. In essence, the institute is working on theories of how the human brain works. He is currently working on a book about intelligence with New York Times Science writer Sandra Blakeslee.

Jeff was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2003. He holds nine patents for various handheld devices and features. He is also a member of the scientific board of directors at Cold Spring Harbor Labs, one of the world’s leading biological research laboratories.

He graduated from Cornell in 1979 with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering. In 2000, Jeff was named Cornell’s Entrepreneur of the Year. He is married to Janet Strauss ’78. They live in California with their two daughters.