PhD student killed in bus crash weeks before defending dissertation, Texas family says
A doctoral candidate at the University of Texas at Austin was killed in a bus crash just weeks before he was scheduled to defend his dissertation, the man’s family said.
Ryan Wallace, 33, newly of Bastrop, was on his way to pick up his sister’s children from school March 22 when a bus he was driving behind was involved in an accident with a cement truck, according to his family and media reports.
Wallace was due to defend his dissertation on April 8 “after years of sacrifice to complete his PhD amid deaths of loved ones, bouts of illness, and working several jobs to keep himself and his beloved pups fed and housed in the place that he was so proud to call home,” his family said in an obituary shared with KXAN.
His family called him “one of the brightest minds and most shining personalities in any room.”
As a student at UT’s School of Journalism and Media, Wallace combined his passions for science, journalism, and teaching, and designed a course called “Science and the News,” according to the Moody College of Communication website.
“It focuses on teaching non-journalists how to think and act like journalists so that they can better engage with news media,” Wallace said in a previous Moody Graduate Student Spotlight.
Wallace’s dissertation is titled: “Changing Climates: Evolving Reporting Practices, Priorities, and Audience Perceptions Regarding The Human-Nature Relationship,” according to KXAN.
UT’s Moody College of Communication told the station that Wallace’s committee will still meet on April 8 to honor him.
The accident also claimed the life of 5-year-old Ulises Rodriguez Montoya, a preschool student at Tom Green Elementary School riding the bus back from a field trip to the zoo, McClatchy News previously reported.
“I went to the crash site 2 days later and could not stand the thought of Ryan and Ulises’ souls being alone without public memory or acknowledgment so I created a memorial for them,” a teacher from Tom Green Elementary School said in an email to UT Journalism Professor Kathleen McElroy, who started a GoFundMe for Wallace’s family.
“I am glad (Ryan) can be with Ulises in heaven and protect him,” the teacher said. “Ulises was an incredible boy and will need Ryan.”
