Randy Pausch

Randy is a Professor of Computer Science, Human-Computer Interaction, and Design at Carnegie Mellon, and co-founder of the Entertainment Technology Center. He also serves as the Director of Carnegie Mellon’s Stage 3 research group, where he oversees the development of Alice.

He was a National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator and a Lilly Foundation Teaching Fellow. In 1995, he spent a Sabbatical with the Walt Disney Imagineering Virtual Reality Studio, and currently consults with Imagineering on interactive theme park attractions, particularly for the “DisneyQuest” virtual-reality based theme park. Randy is the author or co-author of five books and over 60 reviewed journal and conference proceedings articles, and his primary interests are human-computer interaction, entertainment technology, and undergraduate education.

Randy has been for some time diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer.  He gave his last lecture, entitled “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams” is an inspirational and touching presentation, and a must watch.  It’s available here for streaming.  Watching it will really give you a perspective for what you’re doing with your life, and how to focus on the things that matter.  A worthy watch (It’s two hours though, so keep that in mind).