Shiva Ayyadurai

Shiva Ayyadurai (born Vellayappa Ayyadurai Shiva on December 2, 1963) is an engineer and politician.  He has four college degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), including a PhD in biological engineering. 

 Early Life and Education 
Shiva Ayyadurai was born in 1963 in Bombay (now Mumbai), India. He grew up in Muhavur village in Rajapalayam, Tamil Nadu. When he was seven years old, he moved with his family to live in the United States.

Ayyadurai studied electrical engineering and computer science one of his college degrees at MIT. He also earned another degree in visual studies. He earned another degree in mechanical engineering. In 2007, he completed his last degree in biological engineering. He received a Fulbright grant in 2007 to study how Siddha, a traditional South Indian medical system, could integrate with modern systems biology.

 Career 
In 1994, Ayyadurai founded Millennium Cybernetics, a company that makes email management software. Originally called Xiva and now known as EchoMail, the software helps groups handle incoming emails. By 2001, clients like Kmart, American Express, Calvin Klein, and more than thirty U.S. senators used EchoMail to manage emails from customers and constituents. It competed with other software that managed customer relationships.

In 2009, Ayyadurai was hired by India's largest science agency, CSIR. He was supposed to create a  plan for a new company called CSIR Technology. The company would turn research from public labs into businesses. But after months of trying to get approval for his plan from his boss, Samir K. Brahmachari, Ayyadurai shared a plan with CSIR scientists for advice without asking Brahmachari. As a result, his job offer was taken out five months later.

Later on, Ayyadurai shared his plan with CSIR scientists and journalists, which made his old bosses unhappy. He also wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh about the issues at CSIR. Ayyadurai mentioned that many scientists felt the work environment was old-fashioned and needed major improvements.

His letter had support from Deepak Sardana and Pushpa Bhargava from CSIR, who also didn't like how things were managed. This situation highlighted the difficulties that some experts encounter when they return to India from the United States.

In 2015, Ayyadurai published a study using systems biology to compare genetically modified soybeans with non-genetically modified soybeans. He found that genetically modified soybeans have a lot of the cancer-causing substance formaldehyde. This shows they are different from non-genetically modified soybeans, which goes against previous safety tests.

After publishing the study, Ayyadurai toured the United States to talk about his findings.  The European Food Safety Agency said they don’t support his conclusion. 

 Political Campaigns 
2018 Massachusetts Senate Campaign

On March 17, 2017, Ayyadurai entered the race as a Republican candidate for the 2018 United States Senate election in Massachusetts, challenging current Senator Elizabeth Warren. He lost the primary, but ran as an independent and finished third, receiving 3.4% of the votes cast.

2020 Massachusetts Senate Campaign

Ayyadurai ran for the Republican nomination in the 2020 U.S. Senate election in Massachusetts but did not win. He received 104,782 votes, while Kevin J. O'Conner won with 158,590 votes. He ran a write-in campaign, and got  21,134 votes. He lost to Senator Ed Markey.

2024 Presidential Campaign

Shiva is running in the 2024 United States presidential election as an independent. Ayyadurai, who is not a natural-born citizen of the United States, cannot become president.

 Personal Life 
In 2014, Ayyadurai started dating  actress Fran Drescher. On September 7, 2014, they had a ceremony at Drescher's beach house. They both tweeted that they were married, and many news outlets reported it that way. Ayyadurai later clarified that it wasn't an official wedding, but rather a spiritual ceremony celebrating their friendship with close friends and her family. They broke up in September 2016.

References

Category:1963 births
Category:Living people
Category:Indian engineers
Category:American engineers