USC Selects First Gerald A. Lawson Scholarship Recipients

USC Games and Take-Two Interactive have selected the first recipients to receive grants from a new endowment to fund Black and Indigenous students in game design and engineering.

Named after video game pioneer Gerald Lawson, the donation supports racial equality and inclusion for gaming and technology.

In honor of Black History Month, two students from USC School of Cinematic Arts Interactive Media & Games and Viterbi School of Engineering’s Computer Science were named as the first “Lawson Scholars” under the scholarship program.

“It’s an exciting day USC games that we’ve been waiting for a long time,” said Jim Huntley, professor, head of marketing at USC Games and the creator of the Gerald A. Lawson Fund for Black and Indigenous Students, in a statement. “We are proud to support our students in creating a more inclusive industry that will continue to push the boundaries of what is possible in games while drawing attention to one of gaming’s black founding fathers, Gerald A. Lawson, during such a culturally and historically significant time as Black History Month.

The first two Gerald A. Lawson Fund grants are supported by Take-Two Interactive and Microsoft’s Xbox Games Studios, respectively. USC Games is ranked as the #1 undergraduate games program by Princeton Review in North America.

“At Microsoft, we are committed to fostering a more inclusive industry,” Matt Booty, head of Xbox Game Studios, said in a statement. “We are grateful for USC Games’ efforts to do just that with the Gerald A. Lawson Fund. We believe that providing access to higher education and resources for these students will not only contribute to their personal career endeavors, but also lead to growth and advancement within our industry.”

The Microsoft Lawson Scholarship supports a student enrolled in USC’s Interactive Media & Games Division (IMGD) and the Take-Two Interactive Lawson Scholarship supports a student enrolled in the Viterbi School of Engineering’s CS Games program. (USC is not disclosing recipient names at this time).

“We are incredibly proud to be a founding member of USC Games’ Gerald A. Lawson Fund, and we are thrilled to see the first scholarship recipients begin their exciting career path in our industry,” said Alan Lewis, vice president of corporate communications and public affairs at Take-Two Interactive, said in a statement. “At Take-Two, we firmly believe in the importance of greater diversity, equality and inclusion in the interactive entertainment industry, and helping provide access to one of the top universities in the United States is just one of the many ways we can deliver results achieve long-term and sustainable change.”

The Gerald A. Lawson Fund supports students from underrepresented communities who wish to earn a bachelor’s or master’s degree in game design or computer science from USC’s prestigious program. With funding from game companies such as Take-Two Interactive, Microsoft and Sony Interactive Entertainment, as well as other donors, USC Games’ vision is to expand the initiative and provide additional support to marginalized communities.

Gerald A. “Jerry” Lawson led the team that invented interchangeable ROM cartridges used in the Fairchild Channel F, one of the early home game consoles that predated the Atari 2600. Born in 1940 in Brooklyn, New York, wrote he passed on his lifelong interest in science to his first-grade teacher, who inspired him with stories about the prolific black inventor George Washington Carver. Lawson became one of the game industry’s few black engineers during its inception. He also developed the arcade game Demolition Derby and was a member of the legendary “Homebrew Computer Club”, which also included Apple founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak.

Lawson died in April 2011 and he is celebrated posthumously for his contributions. A month before he passed away, he was honored as an industry pioneer by the Interactive Game Developers Association (IGDA). In 2019, he received the ID@Xbox Gaming Heroes Award at the Independent Games Festival, and his contributions are on permanent display in the World Video Game Hall of Fame at the Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, New York. He is survived by his wife, Catherine, and two adult children, Karen and Anderson, who told his story in High scorethe Netflix documentary series about the developers of early video games.