Company Performance Metrics
James M. Bower: Founder
Whyville is a creation of Numedeon, Inc., a company started by scientists at the California Institute of Technology's CAPSI (Caltech Pre-College Science Education Initiative), with the mission of creating an engaging, inquiry-based learning platform for children. The first social networking site was thus born in 1999 and since then has been
part of the lives of more than 7 million children worldwide. Among Whyville's first investors was Mr. Roy Ash, legendary businessman and visionary who founded Litton Industries and led the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency during the Nixon administration. Among Whyville's 80+ sponsors are NASA, MacArthur Foundation, Dell, J. Paul Getty Trust, and Toyota, with whom Whyville has developed games and activities in physics, marine biology, computer technology, art history, engineering, financial responsibility and more. Aside from winning awards from media and parenting groups, Whyville is featured in the National Science Foundation's 2006 publication: New Tools for America's WorkForce: Girls in Science and Engineering. In 2010, the journal Games & Culture published a special issue dedicated to Whyville. Based on Whyville's innovative approach to learning, Numedeon, Whyville's parent company, won in 2013 a National Science Foundation Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) grant to develop PlayMath™, a puzzles-based approach to learning math.
