AIAS creates gaming scholarship fund

The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences has announced the creation of the Dr. Randy Pausch Scholarship Fund, established to support students pursuing careers in game design, development and production.

The fund, honoring Carnegie Mellon University professor of computer science, human-computer interaction and design Dr. Randy Pausch, will provide four USD 2,500 scholarships to students attending accredited universities.

"It makes sense that the Academy's first scholarship fund honor Dr. Randy Pausch, who has been an inspiration to those who want to be involved in making great games," said AIAS president Joseph Olin.

"We hope these scholarships may help the next Will Wright or Mike Morhaime get their start. This new effort is a wonderful opportunity for the videogame industry to support its future by providing a foundation in academics."

This new scholarship fund is a collaborative effort between the AIAS and Bing Gordon, chief creative officer of Electronic Arts.

The AIAS will donate USD 1 for each of the more than 12,000 Academy member's votes for the 2008 Interactive Achievement Awards taking place on February 7.

A scholarship committee comprised of AIAS board members Rich Hilleman, Don Daglow and Mike Capps, along with the University of Southern California's Chris Swain and Carnegie Mellon's Jesse Schell will select scholarship recipients.

Scholarship applications will be accepted following the conclusion of the 2008 DICE Summit in February.