Portland Metro
A structural answer to a structural problem
The Portland Metro Chamber’s own 2026 State of the Economy report doesn’t mince words. Structural not cyclical. A MARS University is a bold shot at the problem.
Who Benefits — And How
Every serious proposal has to answer a simple question: who is this good for? In the case of MARS University, the benefits could be significant and widespread. Here we make that case directly — one audience at a time.
Ralliant
Proximity to the future
MARS University would be independent — not a Ralliant subsidiary, not a Tektronix program. Any land involved would be sold or leased to an independent organization. But independence doesn’t mean distance.
Oregon
A new reason for the world’s best talent to choose this state
Oregon has genuine assets — livability, nature, tech heritage, real university strengths. What it has lacked is a single institution that puts it on the global map for the most ambitious people in the most consequential fields.
MARS University would be that institution. Students from Seoul, Nairobi, Munich, São Paulo would consider Oregon. Faculty might choose Portland over MIT or ETH Zurich. Tax base, industry formation, national reputation.
Oregon’s hardware and semiconductor heritage — Intel Hillsboro, Tektronix Beaverton — gives MARS University a natural industrial base for robotics, space systems, sensing, and quantum computing that software-centric regions cannot replicate. Oregon has built physical technology infrastructure for 80 years. MARS University brings the intellectual infrastructure to match.
Women in STEM
An institution that finally exists for them
Women are at the frontier of ML, AI, robotics, and space. Publishing research, leading labs, founding companies, flying missions. The institutions credentialing the next generation were built in a different era and have been slow to change.
Women Tech Leaders
A once-in-a-generation thing to build
Sheryl Sandberg. Laurene Powell Jobs. Gwynne Shotwell. Melinda French Gates. MacKenzie Scott. Daniela Amodei. Safra Catz. Ruth Porat. Beth Galetti. The women who helped build Facebook, SpaceX, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, Anthropic, Oracle, and many more. But almost none of them has had the chance to help create an institution from scratch — one built around the fields they know best, for the next generation of women who will lead them. MARS University is that chance.
The World
Better technology, built by a wider set of minds
The technologies coming out of ML, AI, robotics, and space will shape the next century of human life. Who builds them — and what questions they choose to answer — matters enormously. MARS University is a bet that broadening the set of people at the frontier produces better outcomes for everyone.
MARS University is not a zero-sum proposition. It does not succeed at anyone’s expense. It creates value — economic, institutional, human — that compounds over time and distributes broadly. The ask of each party is real but modest. The potential return, for all of them, is exponential.