Stanford University is a private research university located in Palo Alto, in the heart of Silicon Valley. Stanford offers, in addition to its undergraduate college, schools of engineering, law, medicine, education, business, earth sciences, and humanities and sciences. Stanford is credited with creating the university-industry partnerships that led to the establishment of companies key to the high-technology revolution., helping spawn an estimated 1,200 companies ranging from Hewlett-Packard to Nike to Google. Stanford also manages the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, a CCST Federal Laboratory Affiliate.