Boundary Institute

Associates and colleagues

Richard Shoup obtained his Ph.D. in Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University in 1970. His Ph.D. thesis was the first to explore the idea of reconfigurable hardware, a technology now widely used in computers and other digital electronics.
That same year, Shoup became one of the first employees at the pioneering Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, where he spent the following decade researching computer graphics and animation, digital video, and theories of computation. At Xerox he built one of the first digital frame buffers and developed painting software for graphic arts. The resulting "SuperPaint" system now resides in the Computer Museum History Center collection at Moffett Field in Mountain View, California.

In recognition of his work in computer graphics, Shoup was awarded an Emmy by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, an Academy Award by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and a Computer Graphics Achievement award by ACM Siggraph. He remains one of only a handful of people in front of or behind the camera to win both an Emmy and an Academy Award.
Dr. Shoup left Xerox in 1979 to co-found Aurora Systems, a manufacturer of digital videographics and animation systems. While serving as President and Chairman of Aurora, he continued as designer of two generations of the company's videographics systems, including PC- and workstation-based software packages, user interfaces, and architecture for the real-time hardware of the high-end product.
In 1993, Shoup joined Interval Research Corporation, a unique research lab in Palo Alto founded by industry pioneers Paul Allen and David Liddle. At Interval, he worked in the areas of restructurable computing, theory of computation, quantum computing, and quantum theory.
Shoup cofounded the Boundary Institute in 2000, a non-profit research group dedicated to the study of foundations of physics and mathematics, and various aspects of leading-edge science.
Richard resides in San Jose, California with his wife and son, and frequently can be found playing jazz trombone with local ensembles.

Thomas Etter has an extensive background in mathematics and philosophy. He has also worked in both computer hardware and software, beginning with several early patents on integrated circuits, one of which was demonstrated by National Cash Register Inc. at the 1963 World’s Fair.
He worked as Senior Software Architect at the E-Speak division of Hewlett-Packard, where he developed a new axiomatization of relational structure aimed at helping to bridge the gap between logic programming and relational database theory. Etter also worked with Richard Shoup and others at Interval Research Corporation on a new mathematical approach to relations called Link Theory.
Etter also has had a long-standing interest in anomalous phenomena known as 'psi' and related interpretations of quantum mechanics. He has conducted research in these areas under grants from the State of New York and the University of Minnesota, during which time he developed mathematical ideas about time loops and double boundary conditions that have today led to the Link Theory representation of a core laws of quantum mechanics.
In past years, Tom has served as President of the Alternative Natural Philosophy Association, an international scholarly organization, and editor of its West Coast journal.