According to BrandeisNOW, Xiru Zhang, PhD ’91, has made a lead gift to help establish the David Waltz Fellowship at Brandeis in hopes of broadening the participation of women and minorities in the field of artificial intelligence. The gift is to honor Waltz, who died in March 2012, as a nurturing mentor, an inspiring colleague, a giving co-worker and a longtime friend. Waltz and Zhang worked together for six years Zhang pursued his doctorate in computer science (the first awarded in computer science from Brandeis, simultaneously interacting as professor-student at Brandeis and as senior scientist-research scientist at Cambridge-based Thinking Machines.
“No one had a greater influence on my academic and science research career than David Waltz,” says Zhang, “He was my mentor, and he was also my friend.”
