A bridge honoring the late Randy Pausch '82, who became well-known for his "Last Lecture" on achieving childhood dreams, will be dedicated Friday at Carnegie Mellon University, where Pausch was a professor of computer science.
The architecture of the bridge, which connects the Gates Center for Computer Science and the Purnell Center for the Arts, employs visual metaphors from Pausch's famous speech. This talk became a YouTube sensation and was eventually published as a book, according to Guy Blelloch, associate dean for the School of Computer Science at CMU.
The railing on one side of the Pausch Bridge is made of aluminum with cut-out abstract penguin figures, alluding to Pausch's metaphor about the rewards of "being the first penguin," said Blelloch, who served as the head of the committee for the bridge and liaison between the University and construction company.
Pausch compared the first penguin to jump into the water — which has the highest risk for predation but also the highest chance of catching fish — to the first person to attempt something that has never been done before, Blelloch said.
The side of the bridge next to the Gates Center supports a brick wall, which represents Pausch's philosophy that one must "climb" the obstacles life presents, he added. "Brick walls are there to show how badly we want something," Pausch said in his talk.
The dedication will include a 7,000-LED-bulb lighting ceremony on the bridge, followed by remarks from Carnegie Mellon President Jared Cohon and Pausch's widow Jai Pausch, according to CMU's Co-Director of Media Relations Byron Spice.
The bridge's construction began before Pausch was known to have pancreatic cancer, but the design was altered after Cohon decided to dedicate the bridge to Pausch, Spice added.
Cohon announced his decision about the bridge's name right after Pausch delivered his last lecture, Spice said.
It is by coincidence that the bridge connects buildings for computer science and drama, two departments in which Pausch was involved, but the positioning accurately represents Pausch's advocacy of "bridges between different topics," Blelloch said.
