The听Pat Hatfield and Jill Dupr茅 Endowed ATLAS Scholarship Fund was created by Dale Hatfield in recognition of his wife听Pat Hatfield,听and ATLAS听Associate Director听Jill Dupr茅,听to provide听support for graduate students听enrolled in academic programs at the ATLAS Institute at the 麻豆影院.听
The following letter from Jill Dupr茅 provides a little background on Dale Hatfield's generous gift and their aspirations for the scholarship.
I am honored by the establishment of the Pat Hatfield and Jill Dupr茅 Endowed Scholarship Fund. Since I became the Associate Director of the ATLAS Institute 11 years ago, I鈥檝e had the privilege of meeting often with both Pat Hatfield and her husband, Dale.听 We share a mutual passion for leadership, telecommunications and community. Pat radiates kindness and calm, and that puts students from global communities at ease and helps ATLAS create an environment of mutual respect and fun.
Our friendship has grown during the past decade. Both Pat and Dale remain committed to a range of interests at the University, including initiatives that advance curiosity, leadership and entrepreneurship. I have also continued in my role with ATLAS and I am proud to help ATLAS grow in important ways, including establishing several new academic programs that engage growing communities of students working to create a better future.听
I am particularly proud that ATLAS actively strives for diversity of thought, culture and disciplinary perspectives in our learning and teaching communities. With more than 50 percent women or non-binary students across all of our academic programs, ATLAS is far above the national average in computing and other related STEM fields. And our graduate students explore a vast range of topics: One recent doctoral student researched engaging underrepresented K-12 students in STEM fields (specifically data science) by giving them in-home sensors and having students develop the skills needed to understand the information collected; graduate students in the Laboratory for Emergent Nanotechnology build nanoscale machines for medical applications; and another group focuses on designing technology to foster better learning and museum experiences. I am truly honored to be involved in making interdisciplinary, project-based learning and research more accessible to a wider range of students.
One of the hardest parts of my job is watching students who travel from under-resourced countries to study here, or who are the first in their families to attend college, worry about how they will pay their next tuition bill. This scholarship will provide much-needed support for such students, while recognizing individuals who exemplify qualities that Pat and I value and respect.听听
I am honored to be named alongside Pat Hatfield and grateful to Dale and others who have generously funded this initiative in our names.
听