# Stanford University A private research university in Stanford, California, whose proximity to [[wiki/Shockley Semiconductor|Shockley Semiconductor]] and [[wiki/Fairchild Semiconductor|Fairchild Semiconductor]] made it a key node in the emergence of [[wiki/Silicon Valley|Silicon Valley]]. Stanford's engineering programs and its encouragement of faculty entrepreneurship created a feedback loop between academic research and commercial semiconductor development. Referenced in [[articles/Bell Labs and the Distributed Architecture of American Power|Bell Labs and the Distributed Architecture of American Power]].