Parrish Computer Science Scholarship

Background

In 2000, I endowed a scholarship at the University of Texas where I did my undergraduate work. Eleanor Moore, Director of Scholarships at the UT Ex-Students' Association, gave me useful and practical advice in how to establish the scholarship. Amazingly of the 160 named scholarships, this was the first for computer science students.

Laura Luthy (photo) of the UT Computer Science Department provided me with the key insights in how to operationalize the scholarship. The Parrish Computer Science Scholarship is awarded each year to an outstanding freshman in the Turing Scholars Program. The UT CS Department selects the nominee, and the scholarship is administered by the Texas Ex-Students' Association.

Parrish Scholarship Winners

Megan Beck

This is a photo (click to enlarge) of Megan Beck and myself taken on September 6, 2001 in Austin, Texas at the University of Texas.  There were about 500 recipients and donors at the banquet sponsored by the Texas Ex-Students' Association.  Since this was the first year for the Parrish Computer Science Scholarship, Megan and I were seated at the front of the ballroom in a choice table.  The President of the University of Texas made the introductory remarks.

• National Merit Finalist and scholarship winner
• Honor Student at the American Academy of Achievement Summit
• Towering Texan Scholarship winner
• Admission to the Dean's Scholars Program at UT

David Yu

This is a photo (click to enlarge) of David Yu, which I took on September 5, 2002 in Austin, Texas at the University of Texas after the the wonderful banquet for 500 recipients and donors sponsored by the Texas Ex-Students' Association. As usual, the President of UT made introductory remarks. I had the opportunity to converse with former National Security Agency Director Bobby Inman, who is a fellow scholarship donor.

• Korean American Scholarship Award
• Hughes Supply Foundation Scholarship
• USA Funds Access to Education Scholarship
• Admission to the Turing Scholars Honors Program at UT

Shan Wang

This photo of Shan Wang, was taken after the scholarship banquet of the Texas Ex-Students' Association on September 4, 2003. Shan was accepted and courted by a number of prestigious universities like MIT and Berkeley, but fortunately selected the University of Texas where she has already worked one summer as an intern in the Computer Science department. Shan was born in China and came to the U.S. when she was seven. She is fluent in Chinese and French.

Shan, in addition to her academic achievements, has played the piano for 12 years winning some awards. She was the Treasurer of her class council in high school and was active in journalism. Now she has taken up sailing. She has won a number of scholarships and honors:

• Ranked 1st in class of 530 at Round Rock High School
• Honor Graduate (GPA of 4.0) of Texas Academy of Math and Science
• National Merit Finalist and scholarship winner
• Admission to the Turing Scholars Honors Program at UT

Postscript dated May 20, 2006 announced by the Computer Science department: Senior Shan Wang was honored as the College of Natural Science's sole student commencement speaker, as chosen by a special faculty committee. Shan will be continue her studies in the fall at Stanford's PhD program in Computer Science.

Jason Petersen

This photo of Jason Petersen, was taken with Don Parrish at the scholarship banquet of the Texas Ex-Students' Association on September 2, 2004 in Austin, Texas. Jason was accepted by Rice University and the University of Tulsa, but fortunately selected the University of Texas where he has already started working as a Java and C++ developer at ARL, UT's Space and Geophysics Laboratories.

• Ranked 7th in class of 441 at Temple High School
• National Merit Finalist and scholarship winner
• Admission to the Turing Scholars Honors Program at UT

Brandon Bolling

This is a photo (click to enlarge) of Brandon Bolling, which I took on September 8, 2005 at the University of Texas after the delightful banquet for 450 scholarship recipients and donors sponsored by the Texas Ex-Students' Association. Brandon was born in Texas, but moved to Colorado when he was 11 years old in order to attend better schools. In addition to graduating in the top 1% of his class in high school, Brandon has exceptional SAT scores: 770 in English and a perfect 800 in Math. He obtained 70 hours via advanced placement tests achieving the top score in almost all of them.

• One of 15 participants from Colorado in the 2004 National Chemistry Olympiad
• Received the Colorado School of Mines Medal of Achievement in Math and Science
• National Merit Finalist and scholarship winner
• Admission to the Turing Scholars Honors Program at UT

Thomas Jack

This photo of Thomas Jack, was taken after the Texas Ex-Students scholarship banquet on September 7, 2006. Tom chose UT over Rice and Georgetown "mainly in order to study in the Turing scholars computer science honors program. I am very excited to begin CS research in the area of biologically inspired computing. Neuroevolution particularly interests me, and I hope to participate in research with UT's neural networks research group."

• National Certamen champion in 2005
• Perfect SAT 800 in both English and Mathematics
• Received Sons of Italy, Pompeo Coppini Lodge Scholarship
• Named a Piper Scholar
• National Merit Finalist and scholarship winner
• Admission to the Turing Scholars Honors Program at UT

Chris Renard

This is a photo of Christopher Renard taken on September 6, 2007 at the University of Texas before the banquet for 450 scholarship recipients and donors sponsored by the Texas Ex-Students' Association. After the banquet, Chris was photographed with William C. Powers, Jr., President of the University of Texas.

During the summers of 2006 and 2007, Chris worked full time at the UT Southwestern Medical School on eTBlast, a full-text similarity search for medical journal articles, grants, etc. Chris' successful participation in the UIL CS Competitions brought him to UT during both his junior and senior years where he had the opportunity to discuss the Turing Program with its head, Dr. Lin.

• Awarded the rank of Eagle Scout by the Boy Scouts of America
• National Merit Finalist and scholarship winner
• National AP Scholar
• Fourth Place Individual State UIL Computer Science
• Admission to the Turing Scholars Honors Program at UT

Emily Russell

Emily Russell was photographed on September 4, 2008 in Austin after the banquet for 450 scholarship recipients and donors sponsored by the Texas Ex-Students' Association. Emily has perfect SAT scores: 800 in English and 800 in Math.

Emily was very active in clubs and organizations at Georgetown High School. She was the President or co-President of the Book Club, the Spanish Club, and the National Honor Society. She won many awards in math or computer science at the district or state level. Emily managed to find time for the marching band & symphony orchestra, and she won awards in piano. During her summers, Emily helped students as a lead counselor at Math Rocks! math camps. Emily was a finalist for Homecoming Queen her senior year, and graduated near the top of her class.

• National Merit Finalist and Scholarship winner
• Presidential Scholar Semi-Finalist
• AP Scholar with Distinction
• Three year Qualifier for the AIME
• Admission to the Turing Scholars Honors Program at UT
• Admission to the Dean's Scholars Honors Program at UT

Zach Pringnitz

This is a photo I took of Zach Pringnitz, in front of the Texas Ex-Students Association on October 20, 2009. Click it for surprise enlargement. Zach was born was born in Phoenix, Arizona, and grew up in Katy, Texas (near Houston). His brother is currently attending Texas A&M University as a senior in Mechanical Engineering. His father has a Masters degree in Mechanical Engineering and is a Department Manager at Schlumberger. His mother who has a BS in Education is currently a homemaker.

Zach is a generalist with wide-ranging interests and accomplishments. In high school, he received academic awards in French, Latin, Physics, Math, and History. Zach was recognized at the national level in Who's Who of American High School Students. There were also awards in Citizenship, National Honor Society Summer Service Award, Rachel's Challenge, CATS award for volunteering, etc. As VP of Mu Alpha Theta, the Math Honor Society, he organized a school-wide weekly math tutoring program. He was the President of Dance Club, which with over 100 members is one of the largest clubs in the high school. Zach was the Secretary of the Senior Class.

Zach was a member of the Freshman Football team and the Ultimate Frisbee team. He volunteered 3 summers on construction projects in Houston and Mexico for the disadvantaged. Zach managed to find time to work as a Mathnasium math tutor, house & pet sitter, and a rock-climbing fitness instructor.

At the University of Texas, Zach will double major in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering. He has a strong interest in how these fields can be applied to medicine "to make an impact on our future".

Zach has won a number of scholarships and honors:

• Ranked 9th in a Class of 621 at Cinco Ranch High School
• Outstanding SAT scores: 780 in Math and 740 in Writing
• National Merit Letter of Commendation
• Four scholarships including one from the UT School of Engineering
• Admission to the Turing Scholars Honors Program at UT

Andrew Wiley

Andrew Wiley was photographed in 2010 in the great outdoors of Texas. Andrew is a generalist with wide-ranging interests and accomplishments. He has exceptional SAT scores: 800 in Math, 770 in Writing and 740 in Reading.

In high school, Andrew was in the marching band and top concert band for 4 years, serving as the front ensemble lieutenant his senior year. His high school band was selected as the Texas TMEA 4A State Honor Band.

Andrew volunteered as the Friendswood high school computer science lab manager for 3 years. Andrew was a member of the National Honor Society and the German National Honor Society. He won numerous German language awards on the regional level and was in the top 10 competitors in 2 events at the state level. He was a leader of the German classical music ensemble that won 2nd place in Texas.

Andrew has been active in a variety of community and church projects including voluteering for an immigration shelter for minors near the Texas border and cleaning up damage from Hurricane Ike.

• National Merit Finalist and Scholarship winner
• Winner at State in UIL Computer Science 4A Individual Test in 2010
• Winner at State in UIL Computer Science 4A Team in 2009 and 2010
• Winner of 4 scholarships including one from the UT School of Engineering
• Admission to the Turing Scholars Honors Program at UT