Randy Pausch

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Randolph Frederick Pausch
Dr. Randy Pausch
Born	October 23, 1960 (1960-10-23) (age 47)
Residence	United States
Citizenship	United States
Fields	Computer science
Institutions	Carnegie Mellon University, University of Virginia
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
Notable 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

Randy Pausch (born October 23, 1960) is a Professor of Computer Science, Human-Computer Interaction, and Design at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States and a best-selling author, who achieved worldwide fame for his "The Last Lecture" speech on September 18, 2007 at Carnegie Mellon University.

In August 2006, Pausch was diagnosed with metastatic pancreatic cancer. He pursued a very aggressive cancer treatment that included major surgery and experimental chemotherapy; however, in August 2007, he was told the cancer had metastasized to his liver and spleen, which meant it was terminal. He then started palliative chemotherapy, intended to extend his life as long as possible. At that time, doctors estimated he would remain healthy for another three to six months. On May 2, 2008, a PET scan showed that his cancer had spread to his lungs, some lymph nodes in his chest and that he had some metastases in his peritoneum and retroperitoneum, evidence that the disease has begun to take over.

1 Professional accomplishments
2 Cancer
3 Books
4 References
5 External links

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.

The Pittsburgh City Council declared November 19, 2007 to be "Dr. Randy Pausch Day."^[2]

In May 2008, Pausch was listed by Time Magazine as one of the World's Top-100 Most Influential People.^[3]

Cancer

Pausch's last lecture poster

Pausch has been diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer^[4]^[5] 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.

On March 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.^[6] In the week prior to this, he had been hospitalized in order to have needle aspiration of pleural effusion in his right lung.

On May 2, 2008, 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 peritoneum and retroperitoneum cavities (basically, inside his abdomen).

The "Last Lecture"

Pausch delivered his "Last Lecture," titled "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams," at CMU on September 18, 2007.^[7] 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 finished his lecture, Steve Seabolt, on behalf of Electronic Arts, which is now collaborating with CMU in the development of Alice 3.0,^[8] pledged to honor Pausch by creating a memorial scholarship for women in computer science,^[4] 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."^[9] He then announced that CMU will celebrate Pausch's impact on the world by building and naming after Pausch a raised pedestrian bridge^[10] 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. ^[9]

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.^[11] His "Last Lecture" has attracted wide attention from the international media,^[12] became an Internet hit, and was viewed over a million times in the first month after its delivery.^[13] 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.^[14]

On October 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.^[15]

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.^[16]

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. ^[17]

On April 9, 2008, the ABC network aired an hour long Diane Sawyer feature on Pausch entitled "The Last Lecture: A Love Story For Your Life."^[18]