Randy Pausch Scholarship Winners Announced

The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS) announced today the four winners of the first annual Randy Pausch Scholarship Fund. Lisa Brown of Carnegie Mellon University, Diana Hughes of the University of Southern California, Garrick Williams of West Virginia University and Jason Williams of the University of Advancing Technology will all receive financial help towards their degrees in game design, development and production.

"It makes sense that the Academy's first scholarship honors Dr. Randy Pausch who is an inspiration to people who want to be involved in making great games," said Joseph Olin, president, AIAS. "We hope these scholarships may help the next Will Wright or Mike Morhaime gets their start."

Pausch, for whom this scholarship was created, has inspired thousands with his speech titled "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams" also known as "The Last Lecture." Rich Hilleman, AIAS Board Member from Electronic Arts, suggested a scholarship fund be created to honor the late Pausch (who died of pancreatic cancer on July 25, 2008) to further the education of students in school for gaming related degrees.

"This new effort is a wonderful opportunity for the video game industry to support its future by providing a foundation in academics," said Hilleman. "I am thrilled that we could help put this scholarship together for deserving students who are up to the challenge."

"With the fund, the Academy has established a scholarship that will advance the game industry by supporting students interested in taking game design and development to the next level," stated Drew Davidson, Pausch's colleague at Carnegie Mellon. "Randy excelled at challenging students to innovate as they worked together on interdisciplinary teams to create engaging interactive experiences. The recipients of this scholarship have already shown that they've accepted this challenge and see how they exceed expectations."