Amir was supported in his graduate studies at Stanford by the James and Viola Quillen Fellowship. James Quillen served as Dean of Stanford’s Graduate School of Education from 1952-1966, and is known for raising the school from a regional teacher and administrator training program to the preeminent research institution that it is today. I remember Amir working diligently on this thank you letter, which is dated the month he died. Amir was incredibly grateful for the financial assistance he received, which went a long way in helping him to fulfill his goals. This is why the Amir Lopatin Memorial Fund will seek to offer similar assistance in the future.
March 2004
Dear Ms. Gangloff,
I am a recipient of the I. James Quillen fellowship at Stanford University. I want to let you know how grateful I am for your family’s generosity and the opportunity it has given me to study at this great institution. I hope to contribute to the legacy of scholarship Dean Quillen left imprinted here.
My studies so far have been focused on the intersection between education and technology. For example, I am currently researching how computers may be used to improve reading comprehension within electronic documents. I am also very interested in the threats and possibilities that interactive video games present to the field of education.
Before coming here, I received my bachelors degree in computer science from Brown University. I then went to work as a software engineer for four years where I specialized in user-interface design, graphics, and data visualization technologies. It is my goal to use the skills I gained as a professional programmer and apply them to the field that I feel poses the most interesting, important and rewarding challenges: education.
I realize how privileged I am to be here and I want to reiterate my gratitude to your family both for Dean Quillen’s role in making the School of Education the great place it is, as well as for the generosity that makes it possible for me to study here.
Sincerely,
Amir Lopatin