Mr. and Mrs. Larry A. Austin have announced that Curtis Robertson, a top STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) student from Oak Ridge High School is the second annual recipient of the Derek W. Austin, Ph.D Math and Science Scholarship. This scholarship in the amount of $1,100.00 is designated to a senior who is working toward a math or science major and has received no other scholarship. The first recipient of this award in 2016 was 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, a press release said. He had also worked for Siemens Healthcare Im Tek Inc. He was a graduate of the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. His profile on LinkedIn included a statement from Derek Austin, “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, the press release said.

This press release and photo were submitted by Holly Cross.