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Culture & Environment
People | Work | Process | Mindsets | Facility | Resources | Events | Social & Environmental Responsibility | Benefits | Lunch
The People
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"I'm always juggling different roles, projects, stages. My aim is to be working on two to three projects at any one time." --Dave Biegelsen, PARC Research Fellow |
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If you ask people what they love most about working at PARC, they would emphasize this: the people. We're a small, close-knit community – about 170 researchers and 60 other staff members – drawn from:
- a broad range of disciplines including anthropology, biology, business administration, chemistry, cognitive science, computer science, economics, education, electrical engineering, environmental studies, graphic arts, law, linguistics, literature, materials science, mathematics, mechanical engineering, neuroscience, philosophy, physics, psychology, sociology, statistics, and more; and
- a diverse array of cultures including Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Japan, Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, Russia, Singapore, the U.K., and others.
PARC people are also passionate about their hobbies and other interests, such as bicycling, cooking, martial arts, music, photography, surfing, and yes goat herding too. Our secret formula? Intellectual depth and curiosity + diverse connections to the world = a rich, fertile soil for new insights and ideas.
The Work
PARC employees intersect deep, multidisciplinary expertise with their desire for impact in the world. At PARC, you'll help create commercial value and advance scientific knowledge by:
- Engaging in multiple stages of innovation, technology, and/or business development — from generating new business ideas and intellectual property, to transferring technology into clients' product groups;
- Influencing and shaping various disciplines — by contributing to journals and trade publications, participating in conferences, leading workshops, and generating intellectual property (it's not uncommon for someone here to have at least 50 patents);
and
- Continually re-inventing yourself — by crossing boundaries beyond a single scientific discipline, sometimes immersing yourself in unfamiliar domains. For example, PARC Research Fellow and mathematician David Goldberg has meaningfully contributed throughout his career to collaborative filtering; audio pitch for recording devices; handwriting systems for PDAs; and more recently, bioinformatics and mass spectrometry.
The Process
People often ask us how we have continually delivered world-changing inventions for over 35 years. The short answer? Some combination of the
following:
- high-quality people;
- deep domain expertise and collaboration across disciplines;
- concrete industry and market insights; and
- the passionate collision of ideas among dynamic project teams.
These aren't just buzzwords around here – it's literally the way we work, think, operate. For example, our employees regularly exchange ideas through lab meetings, brainstorming sessions, half-baked idea contests, reading groups, "trip" reports, hallway conversations, and countless other avenues.
The Mindsets
But there's something else – a unique mindset prevalent throughout PARC – that allows us to reveal new perspectives and breakthrough solutions. Maybe it's a finely honed intuition and self-awareness that enables our researchers to look at problems with different eyes. Or maybe it's the way we pursue problems "to the root" – probing for underlying explanations and alternative answers.
| Turning obstacles into opportunity: By manipulating metal thin film's natural tendency to stress -- something normally considered anathema to the industry -- PARC researchers created micron-scale, compliant interconnects. |
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The mindsets and values we look for in potential hires:
- intellectual curiosity
- open-mindedness
- forward-thinking or visionary
- willingness to experiment
- comfortable with contradictions or counterintuitive notions
- flexibility
- ability to turn obstacles into opportunities.
Our employees constantly shake up their mental kaleidoscopes, forming incredible perspectives in the process. And they often have fun along the way: two of our researchers, for example, recently experimented with spray-on nylon hosiery as a test sealant for flexible displays. |
The Facility
PARC is located in the heart of "Silicon Valley" (which many of our alums helped seed), close to the headquarters of major enterprises, universities, research and design centers, and Sand Hill Road with its prominent concentration of VC firms.
With a convenient location just off California freeways, PARC is listed as one of the Best Workplaces for Commuters. But since we're nestled in an almost pastoral setting – with horses, squirrels, and jack rabbits frolicking in the surrounding hills – you don't have to correct people if they hear you say "I work at a park".
The 200,000 square-foot building – designed by Gyo Obata and influenced by the local activist Committee for Green Foothills – is virtually invisible from the road. Cascading terraces blend into the landscape to minimize environmental impact. Virtually every office, including interior-facing ones, has a window with a view.
Most importantly: PARC's facility, with its open collaborative spaces and re-configurable office walls, has been noted for fostering "creative egalitarianism" [PARC Campus an Archetype for Silicon Valley, San Jose Mercury News].
Resources
PARC has a state-of-the-art computing and networking infrastructure, complete machine shop and prototyping facilities, various tools such as Tobii eye trackers, and materials characterization capabilities including:
- scanning electron microscopy;
- transmission electron microscopy;
- atomic force microscopy;
- x-ray diffraction;
- optical spectroscopy;
- process lines for poly- and amorphous-silicon, thin film devices, MEMS (micro-electro-mechanical systems); and
- full III-V process and device capability.
The PARC facility also includes interactive meeting rooms; a fitness center; classes such as yoga, Japanese, and first-aid; and a 24-hour central library staffed by information specialists during business hours.
Events
PARC regularly hosts special seminars, colloquiums, and a popular public weekly forum speaker series, which bring leading experts and interesting ideas to PARC. Past forum topics have ranged from making chocolate and the benefits of beer, to animals' math abilities and genomics (select video and audio available in our forum archive).
Through rotating art exhibits and artist receptions (about every 3 months), PARC also brings local artists and their works to our corridors. Furthermore, a number of local organizations – including the Association for Women in Science, BayCHI, Bay Area MEMS Journal Club, Optical Society of Northern California, and Wireless Communications Alliance's Location-Based Services SIG – host their regular meetings in our George E. Pake Auditorium.
Social & Environmental Responsibility
PARC has an award-winning Alternative Transportation Program that provides financial incentives to reduce the number of single occupancy vehicles commuting to work. We recently pledged to further reduce CO2 emissions when we joined EPA-award-winning organization Sustainable Silicon Valley (SSV), and are also on track to be certified as a Green Business by Santa Clara County.
Both our cleantech research program and organization-wide "Green Team" began as grassroots efforts by dedicated groups of employees. The Green Team – composed of volunteers spanning the research labs, support groups, and senior management – provides an umbrella for advancing a number of PARC environmental and community initiatives. Since revamping PARC's reduce-reuse-recycle program and working with employees to transform everyday habits into best practices, the Green Team has helped PARC significantly reduce waste and double its recycling output.
PARC employees are passionate about sustainability, and are actively involved in their communities in other ways too – one scientist even served as Mayor of Mountain View while working here. Through our Community Involvement Program (with support from Xerox), we donate funds to local non-profit organizations where employees volunteer their time. Organizations that PARC employees actively participate in or have been involved with include: Community School of Music and Art; Computer History Museum; The Family Giving Tree; Girls Club; Global Fund for Women; Habitat for Humanity; Humane Society; KQED Television; MentorNet; Mountain View Bicycle Exchange; Second Harvest Food Bank; Women's Therapy Center; Westwind 4-H Riding for the Handicapped; World Computer Exchange (donating computer equipment to developing countries); and others.
Benefits
PARC offers comprehensive benefits to full-time employees. Regular employees are eligible for a range of medical (HMO, PPO, EPO), dental, and vision plans; flexible and dependent-care spending accounts; and short- and long-term disability benefits. Employees are also eligible for life insurance and 401(k) plan plus match. Annual vacation benefits include at least 3 weeks vacation, 2 personal choice days, and 10 holidays.
The Lunch
PARC subsidizes lunches in our on-site cafeteria, which is staffed by chefs from distinguished culinary backgrounds.
Year round, employees gather on the terraces overlooking the San Francisco Bay and surrounding mountains, or sit in one of PARC's many tree-filled courtyards. A number of PARC employees also run or bike along local paths during lunch.
So no free lunch, but PARC does offer: lunches rich in opportunities, ideas, and unparalleled conversation. Sometimes those lunch conversations launch new projects, collaborations, and lifelong friendships.
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"I came back here [after interning] because it was the only workplace I knew of where lunch conversations could, and very often did, start new research projects.” --Nic Ducheneaut, PARC Computer Scientist |
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