Endowments for Student Excellence

Corin Anderson attended the University of Washington from 1993 through 2003. He earned Bachelors degrees in Computer Science & Math, and a Master’s and Ph.D. in Computer Science. As an undergraduate, he was joined at the UW by his brother, Casey, and his mother, Cathy, who also earned Bachelors degrees in Computer Engineering and Technical Communications. And, again as Corin completed his Ph.D., Casey earned a Master’s through the CSE Professional Master’s Program. Sharing the college experience with family started even before the UW for the Andersons. Corin, Casey, and Cathy all attended Highline Community College first and graduated with Associates in Arts degrees on the same night (and one day before Corin graduated from Foster High School in Tukwila, WA). Corin and Casey’s father, Craig, rounded out the Anderson family support network.

Corin always felt that the culture of the CSE department was one of its best features, and he did his best to help contribute to it. He was known for decorating his office, especially around the holidays, and for always having snacks on hand for visitors. Corin carried on these traditions after graduation when he joined Google in Mountain View, CA in 2002. Google values and benefits from these traditions, and Corin has greatly enjoyed his tenure there, including working with many CSE alumni.

The Anderson family understands that college can be an overwhelming experience. It may be an abrupt transition from being the top of one’s high school to one of many top students in a freshmen class, or to switch from evening classes at a community college to a much larger campus. Corin is happy that he had the good fortune of sharing in much of his undergraduate experience with family, and he hopes other students will have a similar opportunity.

The purpose of this scholarship is to provide worthy undergraduate students in need of financial assistance an opportunity to advance their education in Computer Science or Computer Engineering. Award amounts will vary. Recipients shall be entering freshmen or transfer students who demonstrate financial need, as determined by the Office of Students Financial Aid.

Eileen Bjorkman graduated from the University of Washington in 1979 with a bachelors degree in Computer Science. After working for a year in the private sector, she joined the Air Force and spent thirty years as an officer, retiring in 2010 as a colonel. During her career the Air Force sent her to school many times, to include a BS and MS in Aeronautical Engineering. She is also a flight test engineer graduate of the USAF Test Pilot School. After retiring from the Air Force she earned her PhD in Systems Engineering. No matter how much education she received, she always believed that her first degree from the UW laid the foundation that allowed her to excel in her later academic and career pursuits. She established this scholarship to ensure that other young people can obtain an education that will open doors to a lifetime of opportunities. (Eileen Bjorkman received the Paul G. Allen School Alumni Impact Award in 2018.)

Donate to the Eileen Bjorkman Endowed Scholarship

In recent years, Boeing has provided scholarship assistance for freshmen entering the Department of Computer Science & Engineering through the Direct Admission program.

The purpose of this endowment is to provide assistance to undergraduate students in Computer Science & Engineering at the UW.

Ken Burkhardt earned his Bachelor’s degree in Physics from Cornell University and his Master’s degree in Computer Science from Rutgers University. He graduated in 1975 with a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Washington. Dr. Burkhardt spent eight years in academia as a faculty member at the UW and at Rutgers University. During this time he was also Vice President of Systems at Intec, Inc., an early pioneer in the electronic weighing industry. He left academia to become the chief system architect in the Unisys workstation group. In 1983, together with two other cofounders, he started Dialogic Corporation, the market share leader in the call processing and automated telephone industries. Dr. Burkhardt and his partners grew the company to 1,400 employees and then sold it to Intel Corporation in July of 1999. In February of 2000 he was appointed Chairman and CEO of Aloha Networks, a startup in satellite Internet communications. He left Aloha Networks in 2004 to become President of Verbier Ventures, LLC a consulting and investment management firm.

Dr. Burkhardt has served on the boards of a number of public and private companies and has been a member of the visiting committee of the College of Engineering. He is married with three children and four grand children and spends his spare time skiing, surfing and biking. He is also one of the founders of the University of Washington Lacrosse Club.

Dr. Burkhardt appreciates the education and opportunities that were offered to him as a doctoral student in the Allen School. By establishing this endowed scholarship, he is securing financial assistance for undergraduate students who might otherwise not be able to afford a University of Washington education.

The award will be based on financial need. Financial need shall be determined by the Office of Student Financial Aid. 

The CSE Award for Excellence was established by funds from donors who wish to remain anonymous. The awards are based on academic merit.

John Colleran and Michelle Kastner both attended the University of Washington. John received his Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science in 1987. Michelle graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Psychology with an emphasis in Sports Psychology in 1988. The two met at the UW in 1988.

Michelle and John greatly enjoyed the UW college experience and feel they personally came away as more well-rounded as a result of attending. They have strong feelings about the importance of a college education in a young person’s life. They believe college not only teaches you academics in the classroom, but life skills outside of the classroom. Both John and Michelle paid their own way to attend college and understand the struggles that go with being a full-time student while working and ultimately the need to pay back student loans. Michelle earned some local scholarships before attending and vividly remembers the relief it brought to get help with the costs of college. John and Michelle attribute their career successes to hard work, lessons learned in college and frankly some good luck. They feel they have attained greater achievements and attained many life goals thanks in large part to their time spent at the UW.

John is now in his 27th year at Microsoft, all of them spent in Operating Systems Group. He has thoroughly enjoyed his time at one of the premiere technology companies in the area. After college, Michelle held two high level marketing positions in local companies and then went on to build her own marketing consulting firm, before “retiring” to raise their two children, Jessica and Joshua. John, Michelle and their children continue to be active supporters of the UW not only on upper campus, but also in rooting on the Dawgs at all home football games, participating yearly in the UW Dads and Daughters program and traveling to bowl games. They would like to encourage and help facilitate a college education for others, who wish to follow this path. To this end they have established the John Colleran and Michelle Kastner Colleran Endowed Scholarship at the University of Washington.

David N. Cutler is arguably the world’s leading operating systems engineer. Cutler joined Digital Equipment Corporation in 1971.

His first operating system project was to build a real-time system called RSX-11M that ran on Digital’s PDP-11 16-bit series of minicomputers: a multitasking operating system that would run in 32 KB of memory with a hierarchical file system, application swapping, real-time scheduling, and a set of development utilities. His second project was to lead the development of VMS, the operating system for Digital’s 32-bit VAX-11 architecture; VAX/VMS was the mainstay of technical computing nationwide for a decade.

Cutler then moved to Seattle to found DECwest Engineering, where he built the MicroVAX1, Digital’s first VLSI computer, and VAX ELN, a real-time factory automation operating system. Subsequently he designed Digital’s first RISC processor, PRISM, and its Mica operating system, which were never commercialized. In 1988 Cutler and his team left Digital to join Microsoft, where Cutler led the development of Windows NT, Microsoft’s first 32-bit operating system. The goals for Windows NT included portability, security, POSIX compliance, compatibility with three separate 16-bit operating performance (including multiprocessor support), extensibility, and the ease of internalization.

Cutler is a Member of the National Academy of Engineering, and is one of the only 22 Microsoft Technical Fellows. In March 2007, Cutler received the inaugural Microsoft Technical Recognition Award for Career Achievement, the company’s top individual recognition. He donated the prize to UW CSE. More than a dozen friends and colleagues, led by Gary Kimura and Rob Short, augmented Cutler’s gift as a tribute to him, creating the David N. Cutler Endowed Scholarship.

This scholarship will be awarded to incoming freshmen or transfer students with demonstrated financial need, as determined by the Office of Student Financial Aid.

In 1990, under the leadership of Professor Richard Ladner, UW Computer Science & Engineering established an endowment to help support our commitment to a diverse student population. Fifteen years later, thanks to the generosity of faculty, staff, students, friends, and alumni who share this commitment, the endowment had grown to more than a quarter of a million dollars.

In June 2006, CSE named the endowment to honor Denice Dee Denton, who served as Dean of the University of Washington College of Engineering from 1996-2005. Denice was an inspirational leader and a strong voice for social justice, diversity, and excellence. She possessed enormous measures of vision, courage, integrity, and backbone.

Denice left the University of Washington in 2005 to become Chancellor (president) of the University of California at Santa Cruz. She passed away under tragic circumstances on June 24, 2006.

The Denice Dee Denton Scholars in UW Computer Science & Engineering will serve as a lasting reminder of Denice: of her character, and of the principles for which she stood.

The Neil E. Eney Jr. Veteran’s Endowed Scholarship was established in 2012 to honor Neil’s generous spirit and to help veterans attend the University of Washington in Computer Science & Engineering or Electrical Engineering.

Neil was born in Seattle, Washington on February 21, 1938. He graduated from Lake Washington High School in 1956 and immediately enlisted in the Navy. His 20-year Naval career took him to bases in New England, Virginia, California, and Hawaii, where he met his wife, Page. He served on five different destroyers during his military career, which included three West-Pac cruises during the Vietnam War. His specialty was that of Sonarman. He moved from the enlisted class ranks to officer during his time in the service.

After retiring from the Navy in June of 1976, Neil returned to the Seattle area. With assistance from the Vietnam Era GI Bill, he attended the UW. He graduated cum laude in 1980, achieving a B.S. in Business Administration.

At university, the technical skills he acquired in the Navy led Neil to specialize in what was then a brand new field, business computing. Upon graduating, he went to work for Sundstrand Data Corporation, an avionics manufacturer famous for their “Black Boxes”. In 1987 he went to Boeing where he worked as a system administrator in support of Boeing Phantom Works and other defense and space based projects. Neil retired from Boeing in 2005.

After retiring, Neil focused his time on playing golf as much as possible, enjoying time with his family, and visiting with his friends at the local Starbucks. In the last few years if you were looking for Neil, he would be on the golf course, at Starbucks, tinkering in his garage or volunteering his time to help non-profits maintain their computer systems. He was not afraid of embracing the most recent technological wonders.

Neil was a generous and loving man. His beautiful smile stayed with him even during the last year, which was very challenging for him as he valiantly fought his lung cancer diagnosis. Neil was an active member of his church, a proud veteran, an avid golfer, an adoring and beloved husband, and a proud father of his two children.

Donations in Neil’s honor are still being accepted. This scholarship is available only to students currently enrolled as Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or Electrical & Computer Engineering majors at the University of Washington.

Kyril Faenov was an entrepreneur, technologist and executive with an 18 year track record of global impact in the high technology industry. Kyril’s aim was to build sustainable enterprises that delivered innovative, scalable solutions in the areas of scientific and technical computing, health and wellness, and education.

Kyril was a General Manager at Microsoft Corporation, leading the Technical Computing Group which encompassed Microsoft’s Parallel Computing Platform and Windows HPC Server. Kyril founded the High Performance Computing business unit in 2004 and led the development of the Windows HPC Server product and world-wide industry and academic partnerships. His prior contributions at Microsoft included leading the planning for Windows Server 2008, co-founding a distributed systems project in the office of the CTO, driving cross-company strategic initiatives as a technical advisor to the Platforms Group Vice President, and developing the Network Load Balancing scale-out technology in Windows 2000.

Kyril joined Microsoft in 1998 as the result of Microsoft’s acquisition of Valence Research, an Internet server clustering startup he co-founded with his colleague and mentor Bill Bain and grew to profitability by securing MSN, Microsoft.com and some of the world’s other largest web sites as its clients. He was a principal technical member of two other parallel systems startups, as well as a software consultant to Intel on a variety of embedded and performance simulation projects.

Kyril received his B.S. from the Rochester Institute of Technology and his M.S. from the Oregon Graduate Institute, concentrating in distributed systems and computational finance. He received an MBA in Technology Management from the University of Washington.

He grew up in Moscow, Russia, where he trained with the Olympic Reserve swim team and studied physics and mathematics. Before his untimely death in 2012 he resided in Seattle, Washington with his wife, Lauren Selig, and two daughters, Avery and Pasha Faenov.

For 12 years preceding his passing, Kyril had been active in Seattle entrepreneurship community as an angel investor and advisor to various early stage startups, and as a member of the Alliance of Angels Screening Committee, Social Venture Partners, and the advisory board of the UW Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences.

In his honor, Microsoft’s entry in the 2012 “Top500” HPC competition, an Azure cloud supercomputer, was named the “Faenov Cluster.” According to a press article at the time, “Microsoft morphs HPC efforts into ‘Big Compute'”:

Microsoft also set up a virtual cluster and ran the Linpack test on it again. It is called Faenov, in homage to Kyril Faenov, who used to lead Microsoft’s HPC efforts before he died in May 2012.

The Kyril Faenov Endowed Scholarship is a lasting tribute to this remarkable person. Learn more about Kyril’s life and achievements.

This endowed scholarship was established in 1999 to honor the memory of CSE Professional Master’s Program Advisor Dreama Frost. Dreama became the advisor for the PMP in July, 1998. In December, at the age of 28, she came down with a sudden illness and passed away. This scholarship was initiated by Dreama’s fiancé, Richard Deal, and came to completion through donations.

This scholarship is representative of and a testimony to Dreama, whose admirable qualities we as humans strive to embody in our character and live through our actions. It represents recognition of ability and the perseverance to achieve a dream under challenging conditions, the desire to utilize knowledge to help us better understand ourselves and the world around us, and the wish to experience joy through helping others realize their dreams. These wonderful qualities, among many others, were the essence of Dreama.

Students who would like to be considered for the Dreama Frost Scholarship should discuss in their application essays ways in which they have overcome adverse circumstances or persevered when faced with challenges.

This scholarship was established by the Glerum family in order to provide assistance to freshmen entering Computer Science & Engineering at the UW. Melissa Glerum received her bachelors degree in computer science from Brown University, and Kirk Glerum received his bachelors degree in computer science from the University of Washington. Their educations prepared them for highly successful careers at Microsoft, and they hope to make the same opportunity available to future generations of students.

This scholarship will be awarded to incoming freshmen with demonstrated financial need, as determined by the Office of Student Financial Aid. The award amount varies depending on the individual need of the recipients.

The purpose of this endowment is to provide assistance to undergraduate students in the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering.

Hellmut Golde spent his career as a University of Washington faculty member, and served as acting chair from 1976-1977. Notably, Hellmut’s collaboration with five graduate students in the late 1970’s to produce a Pascal compiler had a profound effect on the department. Licensed to Digital Equipment in an agreement that paid royalties, the compiler generated well over $1M in revenue for CSE. Hellmut and his wife, Marcy, have remained active in the department since his retirement.

The scholarship was established by an anonymous donor in 2001 in honor of Hellmut’s accomplishments and contributions to the CSE department. The award is based on academic merit. Currently the endowment generates $2,500 a year.

Learn more about Hellmut in this tribute.

This endowment was established in 2008 by employees of Google to help students in Computer Science & Engineering fund the cost of attending the University of Washington. The gifts of these individuals were leveraged by the UW Students First initiative, which provided a 50% match along with corporate matching from Google.

The mission of Google is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. Google is recognized as the world’s largest search engine – an easy-to-use free service that returns relevant results in a fraction of a second. The individuals, both alumni and friends, who funded this endowment value their own education and the opportunity to support undergraduate and graduate students with resources to attain a degree in Computer Science & Engineering was compelling.

This scholarship will be awarded to incoming freshmen or transfer students with demonstrated financial need, as determined by the Office of Student Financial Aid. The award amount varies depending on the individual need of the recipients.

Jim Gray (James Nicholas Gray) was born January 12, 1944, and was lost at sea off the northern California coast while sailing on January 28, 2007. Jim was one of world’s most distinguished computer scientists. His numerous contributions to the field of database systems were recognized with membership in the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the European Academy of Science. He was also a fellow of both the ACM and IEEE. In 1999 Jim was awarded the ACM A.M. Turing Award for his seminal contributions to our understanding of the concept of transactions and their implementation.

Jim’s pioneering research on transactions at IBM in the 1970s provides the foundation for today’s world of electronic commerce. Every time someone uses an ATM, reserves a seat on an airplane, or purchases an item on the web, they are relying on the mechanisms that Jim first developed. These techniques insure that the “right” thing always happens — even in the presence of software and hardware failures. While they seem second nature to us today, when Jim conceived of them they required very deep insight into the complexities of concurrently executing queries against a shared database system.

The purpose of this endowment is to provide assistance to undergraduate students in the Department of Computer Science & Engineering. It was established in 2007 by David and Cathy Habib.

David Habib received a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from the University of Washington in 1986. After finishing his degree, he went to work for Microsoft Corporation as a software design engineer. During his 14 year career at Microsoft, he worked on Windows, applications, and development tools. He was a technical development lead on the first two versions of the Microsoft Access database management system, and also was a development lead and development manager in Visual Studio, working on graphic design tools for web and database development. Since leaving Microsoft in 2000, David spent 12 years doing software consulting for nonprofits and in 2013 joined the Salesforce Foundation where he is a lead developer working on software for the nonprofit market.

Cathy Volta Habib received a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from the University of Washington in 1986. After finishing her degree, she went to work for Hewlett-Packard, where she worked as a software engineer in their test and measurement unit in Lake Stevens, Washington. She later worked at Microsoft Corporation as a software design engineer, where she was a member of the development team working on Microsoft Word for both the PC and Mac. Cathy left Microsoft in 1995 to raise their two children. Cathy currently serves on the Bellevue Schools Foundation as a community advocate for educational programs and funding and works for Eastside Pathways, a collective action nonprofit focused on improving educational outcomes for all children on the eastside.

David and Cathy are strong proponents of public education, and they want to make sure that the benefits of a great university education are available and attainable to all young people, especially those of under-represented races or of limited financial means. This scholarship will be awarded to incoming freshmen or transfer students with demonstrated financial need, as determined by the Office of Student Financial Aid. The award amount varies depending on the individual need of the recipients.

James was born in Lincoln, Nebraska on March 8, 1974. He grew up in Dallesport, Washington, graduating from Lyle High School in 1992. Shortly after, he moved to Seattle to begin his college education and, later, his career at the University of Washington. On August 9th, 2003, James passed away in an accident at the age of 29.

James was known to his family and friends for his warm, generous, and playful spirit. With boundless energy and a true appreciation for life, he continuously challenged himself, seeking out opportunities to enhance his life learning. His wide range of interests spanned from scuba diving to flying. In recent years, James pursued a variety of activities that included world travel, motorcycle riding, bass guitar, coursework in Islamic studies, and the obtainment of his pilot’s license. He was also the Founder and CEO of TechWolf Networks Inc.

The primary criterion for this award is academic merit. In addition, the student’s application essay should address the opportunities they pursue, both in and outside of school, to increase their own life learning.

InfoSpace is a leading provider of Internet infrastructure services for consumers, merchants and wireless devices.Naveen Jain, chairman and chief strategist, founded the company in April 1996 with the vision of delivering real world information on the Internet–anytime, anywhere and on any device. “Giving back” has become a corporate ethic and a cultural value within the company. Established in 2000, the InfoSpace Foundation’s mission is to provide the resources needed to make a positive difference in the communities where the company’s employees live and work.

The purpose of the InfoSpace Endowed Scholarship is to provide educational opportunities to talented Computer Science & Engineering students who may not otherwise be able to pursue their college education.

Formerly the Intelius Endowed Scholarship, this scholarship was established by Naveen and Anu Jain in order to provide assistance to freshmen entering the Computer Science & Engineering and Business programs. Naveen Jain is the founder and CEO of Intelius, as well as the founder of InfoSpace. Both he and Anu strongly believe in giving back to the community and making a difference in peoples’ lives, and their hope is that this award will help attract top students to the UW and provide opportunities for students for a better future.

This award is based on academic merit and financial need, as determined by the Office of Student Financial Aid. The award amount varies depending on the individual need of the recipients. This scholarship is available only to students currently enrolled as Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or Foster School of Business majors at the University of Washington.

As a student at the University of Washington, Gary Kildall received three degrees: a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics in 1967, a Master’s degree in Computer Science in 1968, and a Ph.D. in Computer Science in 1972. He was hired as an assistant professor at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, and later joined Intel Corporation to write programming tools for the Intel 4004 microprocessor.

A pioneer in the computer revolution, Gary developed CP/M, which became the dominant microcomputer operating system of the 1970s. He was one of the first people to recognize that even the early, simple microprocessors could support a complete minicomputer-style operating system, and he created an editor, assembler, linker, and loader, along with the first file system to use floppy disks as a general-purpose storage medium. As personal computers began to be used, he saw that their true potential would be in connectivity, so he developed extensions to CP/M that let computers share files and peripheral devices over a network.

Gary’s company, Digital Research, Inc., introduced operating systems with windowing capability, preemptive multitasking, and menu-driven user interfaces years before Microsoft developed Windows. He also created the first practical open-system architecture, which allowed operating systems and application programs to be independent of the specific machines on which they ran. A firm believer that life and work should be fun, Gary also developed an early computer-based arcade game as well as precursors to current interactive multimedia.

Gary passed away in 1994, at the age of 52. His daughter Kristin established the Gary Kildall Endowed Scholarship in his honor in 1997, and it has been awarded every year since that time to outstanding CSE undergraduate students, based on academic merit.

Recognition of Gary’s extraordinary accomplishments has increased with his inclusion in the wonderful 2004 book and PBS television series They Made America — a brief excerpt from the detailed Kildall chapter can be found here. Read tributes to Gary’s life and legacy in his friend Tom Rolander’s eulogy and his profile on “Gaby’s Homepage for CP/M and Computer History.”

The purpose of this endowment is to provide assistance to undergraduate students in Computer Science & Engineering. Both Gary D. Kimura and Christine N. Kimura are native Seattleites. They received their undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Washington.

Gary (B.S., ’78, M.S., ’82, Ph.D., ‘84) was in the first class that received undergraduate computer science degrees from the University. He then continued on to earn a master’s degree and Ph.D. in computer science. Afterwards, Gary worked at Digital Equipment Corporation and then Microsoft where he was an original member of the Windows NT Operating System design team. In 1999, Gary returned to the University as an affiliate professor teaching the operating system design classes.

Christine (B.S., ’80, M.S., ’98) received her bachelor’s in Metallurgical Engineering and master’s in Materials Science and Engineering. She worked 21 years at Boeing in both the commercial and aerospace divisions before retiring in 2002.

In establishing this fund in 2008, it was the wish of Gary and Christine that this scholarship provide financial resources to allow students to attend the University of Washington, just as Gary had received assistance for his undergraduate education. They hope the students who receive assistance from this fund flourish and leave as proud graduates of the University of Washington. Recipients shall be entering freshmen or transfer students who demonstrate financial need, as determined by the Office of Students Financial Aid. The award amount varies depending on the individual need of the recipients.

The purpose of this endowment is to provide assistance to undergraduate students in the School of Computer Science & Engineering. It was established in 2009 by Todd Laney. Todd is a Seattle native who graduated from Garfield High School and then attended the UW and studied computer science and engineering from 1983-1987. Todd believes everyone with a passion for CSE should have the opportunity to attend a great University like the UW. He believes a quality education will allow students to follow their passion for computer science and engineering later in life.

This scholarship will be awarded to incoming freshmen and transfer students with demonstrated financial need, as determined by the Office of Student Financial Aid. The award amount varies depending on the individual need of the recipients.

Leo Maddox Schneider (July 7, 2005 – January 12, 2019) of Seattle was his family’s sunshine, inspiration, and the love of their lives. Beloved by his mother Sylvia Bolton, his father Matt Schneider, and his grandparents Margy and Stan Perl, Leo was their only child and grandchild and the center of their universe.

Leo was 13 at the time of his passing from injuries and eventual complications sustained in a tragic car accident. A gifted child, three years ahead of his grade level in math, well versed in Spanish and Bulgarian, Leo loved computer programming and Lego design. Leo was passionate about learning. Even at a young age, he was following his Mom’s advice “if you can find something you love and are passionate about; make it your profession. It will bring fulfillment and a lot of happiness.” Leo took that to heart and decided early on to go about finding what he loved.

And “Leo loved computer science,” explained Bolton. “He and his friend Lennox shared a dream of attending a university that excelled in computer science so they could build their own company and make a difference in the world.” Leo, Lennox and their good friend Judd would talk about everything under the sun and about their futures. Bolton continued, “Everyone knew Leo as having a big, sweet soul and people just loved him. Leo was and will always be remembered as the smart, kind and compassionate kid who was gifted at math and science, loved the outdoors, and was a friend to many. With so much life ahead of him.”

The Leo Maddox Foundation was created as a living legacy to Leo by his mom Sylvia. The Foundation’s mission supports promising young students to achieve their academic potential in fulfilling their dreams. In 2020, the Foundation established the Leo Maddox Foundation Scholarship in Computer Science & Engineering to support Allen School undergraduate students in covering the cost of tuition and other educational expenses based on academic merit and financial need.

Learn more about Leo’s life and legacy on the foundation’s website and about the Leo Maddox Foundation Scholarships in UW Magazine.

The Microsoft Endowed Scholarship was established in 1993 to provide financial assistance to undergraduate students in the Department of Computer Science & Engineering.

By designating this gift to Computer Science & Engineering, Microsoft has made an important investment in the future of the software industry. According to Bill Gates III, “Institutions such as the University of Washington provide the software industry with the research and development talent we will need to continue our success. Microsoft has enjoyed a close working relationship with the University of Washington and will continue to look forward to a strong relationship in the future.”

Selection of recipients is based principally on academic merit.

The Jerre Noe endowed scholarship was established by Jim and Donna Gray in 2001 in honor of Jerre’s accomplishments and contributions to what was then the Department of Computer Science & Engineering. Jerre was recruited from SRI to head the University of Washington’s newly-created Computer Science department in 1968 and served as chair until 1976.

Beginning in 1950, Jerre — then SRI’s Assistant Director of Engineering — led the technical team of the ERMA (Electronic Recording Machine, Accounting) Project, a joint venture between SRI and Bank of America that laid the cornerstone of modern electronic banking. The project resulted in checks with pre-printed account numbers, a check reader and sorter that could process ten checks per second with an error probability of less than 0.00001 percent, and the ERMA prototype, which was the first machine to enable multiple workers within a branch bank to determine account status and validate inputs electronically. In March 2001, Jerre and his ERMA team were honored with SRI’s Weldon B. Gibson Achievement Award. As chair, Jerre brought not only technical expertise, but also a sense of excellence and culture that still forms the cornerstone of the Allen School today.

On the evening of November 12, 2005, after a brief battle with mesothelioma (a rare and aggressive form of cancer), Jerre Noe passed away at the age of 82. Additional information on his full and active life can be found on his memorial page.

The purpose of this endowment is to provide assistance to undergraduate students in Computer Science & Engineering. The award is based on academic merit.

This endowment was established in 2007 with a gift from the Pedrizetti family to help undergraduate students with demonstrated financial need in Computer Science & Engineering fund the cost of attending the University of Washington. Ray and Louise Pedrizetti both grew up in the Pacific Northwest and have greatly benefited from time spent at the University of Washington. As a family they encourage and support a passion for learning and believe it is a key to a rewarding life. This scholarship endowment was created to provide a long term legacy of giving so other students have the opportunity of receiving a higher education and therefore benefiting from the rewards it provides.

Ray began his higher education at Bellevue Community College, and transferred to the University of Washington’s College of Engineering. He earned a B.S. in Electrical Engineering in 1981. His first job after graduation was at Digital Research Inc. Later he joined Microsoft, managing many operating systems development teams during his career. He retired from the company in 2004. Louise attended the University of Washington and Shoreline Community College where she graduated as a dental hygienist. The Pedrizettis are Benefactors at the University, and earlier supported the construction of the Paul G. Allen Center for Computer Science & Engineering which opened in 2003.

This scholarship will be awarded to incoming freshmen or transfer students with demonstrated financial need, as determined by the Office of Student Financial Aid. The award amount varies depending on the individual need of the recipients.

RealNetworks, Inc. is the leading creator of digital media services and software including Rhapsody, RealPlayer® 10, and casual PC and mobile games. Broadcasters, network operators, media companies and enterprises use RealNetworks’ products and services to create and deliver digital media to PCs, mobile phones, and consumer electronics devices.

In 2006, RealNetworks acquired WiderThan, Inc. WiderThan is a leading provider of integrated mobile entertainment solutions for wireless carriers, with applications, content, and services that enable wireless carriers to provide a broad range of mobile entertainment, such as ring-back tones, music-on-demand, mobile games, ring-tons, messaging and information services, to their subscribers. WiderThan currently provides mobile entertainment solutions to more than 50 wireless carriers in more than 25 countries, including SK Telecom in Korea, Cingular Wireless, Spring Nextel, T-Mobile USA, and Verizon Wireless in the U.S., Bharti Airtel in India, and Globe Telecom in the Philippines.

RealNetworks’ gift to the University of Washington is to establish the RealNetworks Endowed Scholarship in Computer Science & Engineering. The purpose of this scholarship is to provide undergraduate students in need of financial assistance an opportunity to advance their education in computer science and computer engineering. Award amounts will vary. Recipients shall be entering freshmen or transfer students who demonstrate financial need, as determined by the Office of Students Financial Aid.

This endowment is being established by the Su Family to provide merit-based scholarships for undergraduates in Computer Science & Engineering at the UW. Siblings Sara Su and Jonathan Su attended Bellevue public schools and UW CSE, where they were recipients of department scholarships during their undergraduate careers. This endowment recognizes the critical role UW CSE played in both Sara’s and Jonathan’s academic and professional careers and is an opportunity for the Su Family to give back to, connect with, and support eager, motivated, and high-achieving UW CSE students in their educational pursuits.

Sara entered UW in 1998 and completed a B.S. in Computer Engineering in 2002, partially supported by the UW CSE Boeing Scholarship. At UW, Sara conducted undergraduate research with Professor Richard Anderson, held internships at Microsoft Research Asia, Adobe, and Cray, and was involved in ACM and ACM-W. She continued to complete a Ph.D. in Computer Science at MIT as an NSF Graduate Research Fellow. After two years teaching and conducting research at Tufts as a Visiting Assistant Professor, Sara moved to Google in the Bay Area, where she is a member of the Search team.

Seeing the fun Sara had as a UW CSE student, and the great opportunities her education created for her, Jonathan followed Sara’s path and enrolled in UW CSE as part of the inaugural High School Direct Admission class in 2002. While at UW, he worked with Professor Richard Anderson on research in educational technology, supported in part by a departmental scholarship from Microsoft, leading to a research internship at Microsoft Research Asia in Beijing, China. It was here that Jonathan discovered his interest for computer graphics, eventually leading him to pursue a PhD in the field at Stanford University. After completing his doctorate, Jonathan worked at Intel Labs as a Research Scientist before starting PhiSix Fashion Labs, a company at the intersection of apparel, computer graphics, and e-commerce, which was acquired by eBay in 2014.

This scholarship was established by Theron and Kalée in order to provide assistance to freshmen entering Computer Science & Engineering.

Theron started young at the University of Washington in the Early Entrance Program, which accelerates middle school students for early admission to the university. He struggled at first until he found his calling with Computer Science and was extremely grateful the department accepted him despite his initially sub-par grades.

Kalée studied Chemistry before realizing that what she loved was teaching and not tinkering with lab equipment. She has degrees in both Chemistry and Education and combines her two interests by teaching science classes to middle schoolers in an online school.

Theron and Kalée met at Stanford through a common interest in dance. Currently (2016) they live in Silicon Valley and have three children in elementary and middle school. With family in Seattle they remain connected to the area and come visit the UW campus typically once a year.

Both Theron and Kalée grew up in families with a strong emphasis on education and continue that tradition by investing a lot of time with their children and community. By creating this scholarship, they hope to gift to students the opportunity of a strong education that might otherwise be out of their reach — especially for students who, like Theron, followed a non-traditional educational path yet would excel if given the right challenges and opportunities.

This scholarship will be awarded to incoming freshmen with demonstrated financial need, as determined by the Office of Student Financial Aid. The award amount varies depending on the individual need of the recipients.

The purpose of this endowment is to provide assistance to undergraduate students in Computer Science & Engineering. This endowment was established in 2007 in the name of Dr. Alfred Weaver by a dear friend at the University of Washington, to help undergraduate students with demonstrated financial need in Computer Science & Engineering fund the cost of attending the University of Washington.

Dr. Alfred Weaver, a professor of computer science at the University of Virginia, lives in Charlottesville, Virginia where he is the Lucian Carr III Professor of Engineering and Applied Science. During his tenure at UVA, he has been Chairman of the Department, Director of the Computer Science Corporate Partners Program, and has served on more than 30 major committees, chairing most of them. Dr. Weaver has taught more than 20 different courses within the department and has directed the research of 9 Ph.D. dissertations, 27 master’s theses, and 29 master’s projects.

Over his professional career, Dr. Weaver has received more than 100 governmental/industrial grants, produced 12 books or chapters of books, produced more than 20 journal publications, more than 100 conference publications, and more than 75 technical reports. He has been an invited speaker at dozens of meetings, and has given more than 40 tutorials. He has given dozens of ACM national lectures, and been on the editorial board of many major technical journals. He is also a member of Phi Eta Sigma, Tau Beta Pi, Phi Kappa Phi, Sigma Xi, ACM, and IEEE. He is a Fellow of the IEEE. He holds patents and copyrights and has founded several companies. Besides his primary professorship at UVA, Dr. Weaver has graced many other organizations with his impressive capabilities, including the NASA Johnson Space Center, the Department of Computer Engineering, Lund University, Lund, Sweden, and the Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark.

Dr. Weaver shares his passion and compassion with all who come within his sphere. He mentors undergraduate and graduate students with wisdom, compassion and care, sharing his insight, intellect and creativity while always encouraging the development of these properties in them. He gives his time and effort unflinchingly to the professional and academic communities, enhancing the knowledge, professionalism and humanity present in each endeavor. And he shares his soul with his family and friends. For any undergraduate starting out their career, there is no better personal or professional life to attempt to emulate than that of Alfred C. Weaver.

This scholarship will be awarded to incoming freshmen with demonstrated financial need, as determined by the Office of Student Financial Aid. The award amount varies depending on the individual need of the recipients.

This endowed scholarship was established in 1998 by Dr. Jo-Anne Wisniewski in memory of her husband.

John Wisniewski graduated from the University of Washington in June, 1973 with a double major in Psychology and Mathematics (Numerical Analysis). He and Jo-Anne married one week after graduation.

John continued his education by obtaining his Master’s degree in Computer Science from Washington State University in 1975. Shortly after graduation, he worked for the Department of Defense in Fort Meade, MD until he went to work for Sandia Labs in New Mexico in November, 1976. In the summer of 1978, he went back to school at the University of Illinois to complete a PhD in Computer Science/Applied Mathematics, which he finished in 1980. He then returned to Sandia Labs in New Mexico until 1989 when he moved his family to Oregon to work for Mentor Graphics.

In the meantime, his pride and joy and only child, Jonathan, was born. He loved being a father and was proud of both his wife and son for all their accomplishments. He became an expert veterinary assistant for his wife, not to mention an expert stall cleaner!

Dr. Wisniewski began working for Intel in 1992. In four short years, he had a major impact on both individuals and projects. In March, 1997, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and died at home five months later.

Dr. Wisniewski loved teaching as well as learning and acted as a mentor for many young people. He was known for his ability to problem-solve even before the problem could be recognized by those around him. He gave quietly of himself throughout his life. His steadfast support of his family and his embodiment of a successful personal and work ethic provided inspiration to everyone he interacted with. His positive outlook on life brought out the best in people. Watching others obtain the goals they set for themselves was one of his greatest pleasures.

The award will be based on academic merit and financial need. The endowment currently generates $2,500/year.

Brian Yamasaki came to the University of Washington as an undergraduate in the early 1980’s with the intention of pursuing a degree in business. After a short while, he became captivated by the vitality and intelligence of the faculty and students on campus. He took a Computer Science course out of curiosity and found he just couldn’t stop. He had been bit with the “technology bug.” Brian cites the intelligence of the students and instructors in Computer Science & Engineering as inspiration for him to work twice as hard to achieve his full potential. In 1986, he graduated with two bachelors degrees, one in Computer Science and one in Business Administration.

Brian Yamasaki strongly believes that the UW is at the heart of innovation and academic excellence in the Pacific Northwest. He also understands that at the core of every great University are the students that will set standards, challenge conventions, and ultimately contribute to society. Brian hopes this scholarship will help attract and nurture the best and brightest students to study methods, ask hard questions, create new solutions, and become the next great leaders in technology, whether in academia or industry. Brian enjoys his many connections and conversations with undergraduates as they journey through their education.

This scholarship will be awarded to entering freshmen or entering transfer students in the Department of Computer Science & Engineering at the University of Washington. Award amounts vary. Selection is based on demonstrated financial need, as determined by the Office of Student Financial Aid.