Larry and Doris Austin announced that Julia Steed, daughter of Chad and Jessica Steed and a student from Oak Ridge High School is the fifth annual recipient of the Derek W. Austin, Ph.D Math and Science Scholarship. This scholarship of $1,100.00 goes to a senior who is working toward a math or science major and has received no other scholarship. Julia plans to pursue a Computer Science degree at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Previous recipients of the scholarship include William Andress, Sarah Roth, Curtis Robertson and Elisabeth Gallmeier.
This scholarship endowment is in memory of their son, Derek Austin, who was most recently the Director of Telemedical Systems at Hubble Telemedical, Inc. in Knoxville. He had also worked for Siemens Healthcare Im Tek, Inc. He was a graduate of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. His profile on LinkedIn included a statement from Derek, “As a survivor of pancreatic cancer, I have both a personal interest and intimate relationship with medical imaging and cancer research.” His specialties included expertise in software development, data acquisition, imaging systems, microscopy, and nanotechnology.
After Derek’s struggle ended with cancer, his parents created this scholarship endowment to carry on his memory, possibly giving students like Derek the opportunity to pursue their ambitions in STEM careers.
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Press release and photo submitted by Dr. Deanna Pickel
