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Randy Pausch
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Dr. Randy Pausch
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| Born | (1960-10-23)October 23, 1960
Baltimore, Maryland, USA
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| Died | July 25, 2008(2008-07-25) (aged 47) |
| Cause of death | Pancreatic cancer |
| Citizenship | United States |
| Alma mater | Brown University, Carnegie Mellon University |
| Known for | Creator of Alice software project co-founder of CMU's Entertainment Technology Center Virtual Reality Research with Disney Imagineers Inspirational speeches regarding life #1 best-selling book Battle with cancer |
| Awards | Karl V. Karlstrom Outstanding Educator Award ACM Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education Award for Outstanding Contributions to Computer Science Education Time Magazine World's Most Influential People List |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Computer science |
| Institutions | Carnegie Mellon University University of Virginia |
| Doctoral advisor | Alfred Spector |
Randolph Frederick Pausch[1] (October 23 1960 – July 25 2008) was an American professorofcomputer science, human-computer interaction and designatCarnegie Mellon University (CMU) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and a best-selling author who achieved worldwide fame for his "The Last Lecture" speech on September 18 2007 at Carnegie Mellon. The lecture was conceived after, in summer 2007, Pausch had learned that his previously known pancreatic cancer was terminal.
Pausch was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and grew up in Columbia, Maryland.[1] After graduating from Oakland Mills High School in Columbia, Pausch received his bachelor's degree in computer science from Brown University in May 1982 and his Ph.D. in computer science from Carnegie Mellon University in August 1988.[2] While completing his doctoral studies, Pausch was briefly employed at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center and Adobe Systems.[3]
Pausch was an assistant and associate professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Virginia's School of Engineering and Applied Science from 1988 until 1997. While there, he completed sabbaticalsatWalt Disney Imagineering and Electronic Arts (EA).
In 1997, Pausch became Associate Professor of Computer Science, Human-Computer Interaction, and Design, at Carnegie Mellon University. He was a co-founder in 1998, along with Don Marinelli, of CMU's Entertainment Technology Center (ETC), and he started the Building Virtual Worlds[4] course at CMU and taught it for 10 years. He was a National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator and a Lilly Foundation Teaching Fellow. He consulted with Googleonuser interface design and also consulted with PARC, Imagineering, and Media Metrix.[3] Pausch was the author or co-author of five books and over 70 articles and the founder of the Alice software project.
Pausch received two awards from ACM in 2007 for his achievements in computing education. These are the Karl V. Karlstrom Outstanding Educator Award and the ACM Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education Award for Outstanding Contributions to Computer Science Education.[5] He was also inducted as a Fellow of the ACM in 2007.
The Pittsburgh City Council declared November 19 2007 to be "Dr. Randy Pausch Day."[6]
In May 2008, Pausch was listed by Time as one of the World's Top-100 Most Influential People.[7]
Pausch was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer[8][9] and underwent a Whipple procedure (pancreaticoduodenectomy)onSeptember 19 2006 in an unsuccessful attempt to halt his pancreatic cancer.[10] He was told in August 2007 to expect a remaining three to six months of good health. He soon moved his family to Chesapeake, Virginia, a suburb near Norfolk, to be close to his wife's family.
OnMarch 13 2008, Pausch advocated for greater federal funding for pancreatic cancer before the United States Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies.[11] In the week prior to this, he had been hospitalized in order to have needle aspiration of pleural effusion in his right lung.
OnMay 2, a PET scan showed that he had very tiny (5mm or less) metastases in his lungs and some lymph nodes in his chest. He also had some metastases in his peritoneal and retroperitoneal cavities.
OnJune 26 2008, Pausch indicated that he was considering stopping further chemotherapy because of the potential adverse side effects. He was, however, considering some immuno-therapy-based approaches.[12]
OnJuly 24, on behalf of Pausch, a friend anonymously posted a message on Pausch's webpage stating that a biopsy had indicated that the cancer had progressed further than what was expected from recent PET scans and that Pausch had "taken a step down" and was "much sicker than he had been." The friend also stated that Pausch had then enrolled in a hospice program designed to provide palliative care to those at the end of life.[13]
Pausch delivered his "Last Lecture," titled "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams," at CMU on September 18 2007.[14] This talk was modeled after an ongoing series of lectures where top academics are asked to think deeply about what matters to them, and then give a hypothetical "final talk," i.e., "what wisdom would you try to impart to the world if you knew it was your last chance?"
Before speaking, Pausch received a long standing ovation from a large crowd of over 400 colleagues and students. When he motioned them to sit down, saying, "Make me earn it," some in the audience shouted back, "You did!"
During the lecture, Pausch was upbeat and humorous, alternating between wisecracks, insights on computer science and engineering education, advice on building multi-disciplinary collaborations, working in groups and interacting with other people, offering inspirational life lessons, and performing push-ups on stage. He also commented on the irony that the "Last Lecture" series had recently been renamed as "Journeys": "I thought, damn, I finally nailed the venue and they renamed it."[15]
After Pausch finished his lecture, Steve Seabolt, on behalf of Electronic Arts, which is now collaborating with CMU in the development of Alice 3.0,[16] pledged to honor Pausch by creating a memorial scholarship for women in computer science,[8] in recognition of Pausch's support and mentoring of women in CS and engineering.
CMU president Jared Cohon spoke emotionally of Pausch's humanity and called his contributions to the university and to education "remarkable and stunning."[17] He then announced that CMU will celebrate Pausch's impact on the world by building and naming after Pausch a raised pedestrian bridge[18] to connect CMU's new Computer Science building and the Center for the Arts, symbolizing the way Pausch linked those two disciplines.
Finally, Brown University professor Andries van Dam followed Pausch's last lecture with a tearful and impassioned speech praising him for his courage and leadership, calling him a role model.[17]
Randy Pausch gave an abridged version of his speech on the Oprah show in October 2007.[19][20]
Pausch was named "Person of the Week" on ABC's World News with Charles GibsononSeptember 21.[21] His "Last Lecture" has attracted wide attention from the international media,[22] became an Internet hit, and was viewed over a million times in the first month after its delivery.[23]OnOctober 22 2007, Pausch appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show where he discussed his situation and recapped his "Last Lecture" for millions of TV viewers.[24]
OnOctober 6 2007, Pausch joined the Pittsburgh Steelers for the day during their regular practice, after the organization learned that one of his childhood dreams mentioned in his "Last Lecture" was to play in the NFL.[25]
The Disney-owned publisher Hyperion has paid $6.7 million for the rights to publish a book about Pausch called The Last Lecture, co-authored by Pausch and Wall Street Journal reporter Jeff Zaslow.[26]
A devoted Star Trek fan, Pausch was invited by film director J. J. Abrams to film a role in the latest Star Trek movie. Abrams heard of Pausch's condition and sent a personal e-mail inviting Pausch to the set. Pausch happily accepted and traveled to Los Angeles, California to shoot his scene. In addition to appearing in the film, he also has a line of dialogue and donated the $217.06 paycheck to charity.[27][28]
OnApril 9 2008, the ABC network aired an hour long Diane Sawyer feature on Pausch entitled "The Last Lecture: A Love Story For Your Life."[29]
OnJuly 29 2008, ABC aired a follow up to the Last Lecture special, remembering Pausch and his famous lecture.
Pausch gave an updated version of his "Time Management" lectureonNovember 27 2007 at the University of Virginia, to an audience of over 850 people.[30][31][32][33][34]
In March 2008, Pausch appeared in a public service announcement video and testified before Congress in support of cancer research.
OnMay 18 2008, Pausch made a surprise return appearance at Carnegie Mellon, giving a speech at the commencement ceremony, as well as attending the School of Computer Science's diploma ceremony, and on May 19 Pausch appeared on the Good Morning America show.
His lecture, "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams", was nominated during the 2007 YouTube Video Awards[35].
OnJuly 25 2008, Pausch died from pancreatic cancer at his family's home in Chesapeake, Virginia, having moved there so that his wife and children would be near family after his death.[15][36] He is survived by his wife, Jai, and children, Dylan, Logan and Chloe.
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