We do seem to like lists – “the best places to live,” the “front runners” in the presidential campaign, our bucket list as so on. Even “geekiness” is fodder for list makers. According to Forbes Magazine – Lowell, Massachusetts is #6 on the list of the 20 “geekiest” cities in America. Now there are many ways to define “geekiness” – for Forbes the National Science Foundation’s latest description guided the making of their list. The current version defines “geeks” as “any worker with a bachelor’s level of knowledge and education in science or engineering-related fields or workers in occupations that require some degree of technical knowledge or training.” It’s no surprise that San Jose, California in the heart of Silicon Valley has been deemed “the geek capital of America.” Our South Middlesex neighbor city of Framingham copped the #3 spot on the geek list. Boston is listed at #15. In describing Lowell’s listing, Forbes notes:

Lowell, Mass.14.1% of workforce
16,580 workers employed
Named after Francis Cabot Lowell, the City of Lowell is often cited as “America’s first industrial city.” While most of its mills are gone, the Lowell-Billerica-Chelmsford area has attracted a number of technology companies, including Kronos Inc., Jabil Circuit and Juniper Networks.

Read the full article and access the full list here at Forbes.com.

Not surprising that UMass Lowell is big part of the Lowell cloak of geekiness. It’s all about vision, persistence and clout!