THE LAST LECTURE BY RANDY PAUSCH

Born
Randolph Frederick PauschOctober 23, 1960 (1960-10-23) (age 47)

Employer
Carnegie Mellon University

Known for
Creator of Alice software projectco-founder of CMU's Entertainment Technology CenterVirtual Reality Research with Disney ImagineersInspirational speeches regarding lifeBattle with cancer

Randy Pausch (born October 23, 1960) is a 47 year-old Professor of Computer Science, Human-Computer Interaction, and Design at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In September 2006, he was diagnosed with metastatic pancreatic cancer. He pursued a very aggressive cancer treatment that included major surgery and experimental chemotherapy; however in August of 2007 he was told that the cancer had metastasized to his liver and spleen. He then started palliative chemotherapy intended to extend his life as long as possible, which was then estimated to be three to six months.


Professional accomplishments

Pausch received his bachelor's degree in Computer Science from Brown University and his Ph.D. in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University. He has been a co-founder, along with Don Marinelli, of CMU's Entertainment Technology Center (ETC) and he started the Building Virtual Worlds course at CMU and taught it for ten years. He has been a National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator, and a Lilly Foundation Teaching Fellow. Pausch was a professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Virginia's School of Engineering and Applied Science from 1988 until 1997. He has done sabbaticals at Walt Disney Imagineering and Electronic Arts (EA), and consulted with Google on user interface design. Pausch is 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.[1] He was also inducted as a Fellow of the ACM in 2007.

Battle with cancer

Pausch's last lecture poster
Pausch has been diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer[2][3] and was told in August 2007 to expect a remaining three to six months of good health. He soon moved his family back down to Virginia.

Last Lecture
Pausch delivered his "Last Public Lecture", entitled "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams", at CMU on September 18, 2007.[4] 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.

After Pausch has finished his lecture, Steve Seabolt, on behalf of Electronic Arts, which is now collaborating with CMU in the development of Alice 3.0,[5] has pledged to honor Pausch by creating a memorial scholarship for women in computer science,[2] 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."[6] He then announced that CMU will celebrate Pausch's impact on the world by building and naming after Pausch a raised pedestrian bridge[7] 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 and "a Mensch".[6]

Media coverage

Randy Pausch and his wife Jai meeting with Sting at "The Police" concert at UVa on November 6, 2007
Pausch was named "Person of the Week" on ABC's World News with Charles Gibson on September 21.[8] His "Last Lecture" has attracted wide attention from the international media,[9] became an Internet hit, and was viewed over a million times in the first month after its delivery.[10] On October 22, 2007, Pausch appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show where he discussed his situation and recapped his "Last Lecture" for millions of TV viewers.

On October 06, 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.[12]

The Disney-owned publisher Hyperion has paid $6.7 million for the rights to publish a book about Randy Pausch called "The Last Lecture", co-authored by Randy Pausch and Wall Street Journal reporter Jeff Zaslow.[13]

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.

Other lectures
Pausch gave an updated version of his "Time Management" lecture on November 27, 2007 at the University of Virginia, to an audience of over 850 people

Books
Learning to Program with Alice, Brief Edition (with Wanda P Dann and Stephen Cooper) (2006) ISBN 0132397757

The Last Lecture (2008) ISBN 1401323251

Bio info from Wikipedia