The first Noyce Visiting Professor was computer scientist Nathaniel Borenstein, co-founder of First Virtual, one of the early leaders in
e-commerce. Borenstein is a Grinnell alumnus, graduating in 1980 with majors in Mathematics and Religious Studies. He was one of the principal authors of the MIME protocol, which is ubiquitous in electronic information transfer. Borenstein taught two courses while at Grinnell College. The first, intended for a general audience, was entitled The Internet and Society. The second was targeted at computer science students. It was entitled Human-Computer Interface Design.

Borenstein was on campus for several periods, for a total of about seven weeks. While on campus, Borenstein delivered a convocation lecture
The Future of the Internet and the Internet of the Future. He met with several groups about the educational uses of the Internet and shared his expertise about computer security and other computer-related issues.