Handspring founder and chief product officer, Jeff Hawkins, has been elected to the National Academy of Engineering. Members are elected to the Academy by their peers for contributions to engineering.

According to the company, the Academy awarded Hawkins this distinction for the creation of the handheld computing paradigm and the creation of the first commercially successful example of a handheld computing device. In 1994, Hawkins invented the original PalmPilot products and founded Palm Computing. He later co-founded Handspring in 1998.

He is also the founder and executive director of the non-profit Redwood Neuroscience Institute, a scientific research institute working on theories and mathematical models of brain function.