Video Gamers College Scholarships Now Open

CALABASAS, Calif., March 31 — The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences is accepting submissions for the 2009 Dr. Randy Pausch Scholarship Fund, to support students in pursuit of careers in game design, development and production. The organization will award four $2,500 scholarships to students attending accredited universities.

Dr. Pausch was a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Pausch learned that he had pancreatic cancer, a terminal illness, in September of 2006. He gave an upbeat and adage-laden lecture entitled “The Last Lecture: Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams,” which became a massively popular YouTube video and can be viewed on Calabasas365 video. Pausch died on July 25, 2008.

Dr. Pausch had great influence within the industry through his teachings, sabbaticals at Walt Disney Imagineering and Electronic Arts and consultation with Google on user interface design.

“The Academy is pleased to be able to continue supporting the educational efforts of the growing number of students pursuing careers in interactive entertainment,” said Joseph Olin, president, AIAS. “As Dr. Randy Pausch inspired students and colleagues to work towards their dreams, we can think of no better way to honor this philosophy than to offer student scholarships in his name.”

The scholarship selection committee is comprised of AIAS board members Rich Hilleman, Electronic Arts; Don Daglow, Stormfront Studios; and Mike Capps, Epic Games, along with the University of Southern California’s Chris Swain and Carnegie Mellon’s (former AIAS board member) Jesse Schell.

Additional information on the Dr. Randy Pausch Scholarship Fund and the application process will be available beginning March 31, 2009 at www.interactive.org.