Two generations of the Perkowitz family have been deeply involved in education and computer science. This has led to success, and to personal and professional satisfaction. The Perkowitz Family Scholarship in Computer Science & Engineering is our way of assisting future generations in reaching comparable success and satisfaction in a field we are proud to have worked in. And to “pay it forward”, as it were, recognizing that it was scholarship funds that enabled the older Perkowitzes to attend college some 60+ years ago.
Dr. Sidney Perkowitz, the son of immigrants, was part of the first generation in his family to attend college. He attended Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute (now part of NYU) on scholarship and later earned a Ph.D. in Physics at the University of Pennsylvania. After a 40+ year career he retired as professor emeritus of physics at Emory University. He is also a well-known author of books and articles whose goal is always to make science a part of the lives of non-scientists, to show the relationships between science, and art and literature. His involvement with computers goes back to their earliest days.
Sandra Price Perkowitz, with degrees from University of Pennsylvania and New York University was also a scholarship student. After graduation she began a career as a software developer/computer programmer/systems analyst and eventually software entrepreneur — at a time when most of the world had no idea what a computer was — and there was no such thing as a “computer science” degree. Ms. Perkowitz has never understood how computer science became a “boys club”, and she has long wished to change that situation. This desire is the true impetus behind the Perkowitz Family Scholarship Fund.
Their son, Dr. Michael Perkowitz, is a graduate of Brown University with a Ph.D. from the Allen School (before it was the Allen School) in Artificial Intelligence. He is now part of Seattle’s “software engineering culture”. He is also a volunteer tutor (of computer science) in Seattle’s Rainier Scholars program.
This scholarship is available only to students currently enrolled as Computer Science or Computer Engineering majors at the University of Washington.