Shiva Ayyadurai

Ayyadurai was born in 1963 in Bombay (now Mumbai), India. In his 2020 Ballotpedia survey he says his family came to the United States in 1970 and settled in Paterson, New Jersey, where he attended public school.[1][3] He earned bachelor's, master's and Ph.D. degrees from MIT in 1986, 1990 and 2007. Wikipedia describes the doctorate as being in biological engineering (systems biology) and notes a 2007 Fulbright grant, and he describes himself as a Fulbright Scholar.[1][3]

Ballotpedia lists his professional experience as scientist, inventor, entrepreneur, owner of multiple businesses related to biological systems and computer science, author of 10 books and MIT lecturer; it adds that he worked for the U.S. Senate to deploy its email management infrastructure.[1] According to his survey, he has started seven technology companies, including EchoMail, CytoSolve and Systems Health.[1]

Ayyadurai ran for U.S. Senate in 2018 as an independent and received 3.4% in the general election won by Elizabeth Warren. In 2020 he received 0.6% as a Republican write-in candidate in the Senate race won by Ed Markey.[1] He ran for President in 2024 as an independent, receiving 0.5% on the Massachusetts ballot, and Ballotpedia lists him as having declared for the 2028 presidential election.[1] In his 2020 Ballotpedia survey he described himself as the inventor of email and listed digital rights, citizen science and health rights as his priorities; he has not completed a 2026 survey.[1] He received 2.3% of the vote to Ed Markey's 63.4%, according to unofficial results reported by NBC News.[2]