Help Create the Jayadev Misra Graduate Fellowship Fund

Want to support the Misra Graduate Fellowship Fund? 

This campaign might be over, but that doesn't mean you can't support it! Help support the Jayadev Misra Graduate Fellowship Fund by making a gift here! Your gift will help graduate education at UTCS for years to come! 

Why Support Graduate Fellowships?​

Graduate students are absolutely essential to the UT Computer Science’s mission to lead in the creation of scientific knowledge and practical technologies that are defining the digital revolution of the 21st century. Through decades of sustained commitment to the highest standards in graduate education, UTCS has maintained top ten rankings not only in its overall graduate program (ranked #9 by US News), but also in all four subfields ranked by US News (theory, artificial intelligence, systems, and programming languages). But our program is only as good as our students. We are one of only a very small number of top-ranked universities who also happen to be public, and as a result, we are battling against institutions with far more resources than our own. If we are going to maintain and improve upon our previous successes, we have to be able to offer graduate fellowships that enable us to compete for the best students. We cannot do that without the help and support of our alumni. We hope you’ll join us in our efforts to strengthen UTCS and to give our graduate students all of the financial resources they need to pursue their studies.

Honoring Jayadev Misra

Our newest graduate fellowship honors Dr. Jayadev Misra, who recently retired from UTCS after an illustrious career and many years of dedicated service. Jayadev Misra is a Schlumberger Centennial Chair Emeritus and University Distinguished Teaching Professor Emeritus in Computer Science at The University of Texas at Austin. He earned his Ph.D. in computer science at the Johns Hopkins University in 1972. He worked for IBM from Jan 1973 to Aug 1974 and then joined the University of Texas at Austin as an assistant professor of computer science. He has spent his entire research and teaching career at the the University of Texas at Austin, retiring in Aug 2015, except for a year as a visiting professor at Stanford University. Misra’s research focuses on structuring of concurrent and distributed computing with emphasis on programming languages, semantics and application design.

Misra is a fellow of the ACM and IEEE. He held the Guggenheim fellowship during 1988-1989, and was the Strachey Memorial lecturer at Oxford University in 1996. He received an honorary doctorate (Doctor Honoris Causa) by the Ecole Normale Superieure de Cachan, France, in 2010.  He was identified as a highly cited researcher by ISI, Thompson, in 2004. Some of the teaching recognitions he has received include election to the Academy of Distinguished Teachers at the University of Texas at Austin and the Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Award of the University of Texas System.

FAQ's

What is an endowment? Endowments are a sound investment in a better future. With an endowed gift, you provide permanent support for the University. Your gift is invested — never spent — and each year a distribution, like dividends on a mutual fund account, is made to your chosen program or area. Investment earnings above the dividend rate help the endowment value grow over time, to keep pace with inflation and maintain your endowment’s spending power.

What is a pledge? A pledge is a promise to pay a specific amount over a set period of time. Pledges for the Jayadev Misra Graduate Endowment can be made over a 5-year window.  For example, if you make a $2,000 pledge today (matched by the Kodosky Foundation) you can pay off the pledge by making a $400 gift each December for the next four years.  We will send you a reminder each December. If you would like to make a pledge, click here. 

Can I utilize my company match?  YES!  Many employers sponsor matching gift programs (Apple, Google, Microsoft, etc.) and will match any charitable contributions made by employees.  To find out if your company has a matching gift program, please click here.  Tip: You will need to request the matching gift from your employer.

What is a gift matching program? Matching gifts are donations a company, employer, or individual makes to match charitable contributions made to a specific cause. For the Jayadev Misra Graduate Endowment, The Kodosky Foundation will match your donation or pledge dollar-for-dollar up until December 31, 2018. Any gifts after this date will not be included in the Kodosky Foundation matching gift program.