Alumnus Tom Davis (BS ’70) and his wife, Ellyn Bush, endow a $1.5 million undergraduate scholarship to support young scholars on their educational journeys.

Tom and his wife, Ellyn, are both passionate about education. While their career paths took different routes, both spent time as teachers after graduate school, with Tom revisiting the role again later in life. Now, they are continuing to invest in the future of students through philanthropy. The couple recently established the endowed Tom R. Davis and Ellyn C. Bush Scholarship through a $1.5 million gift.

“I was always thankful about the education I got at Caltech," says Tom. “And the nice thing about an endowed scholarship is it will serve many students."

All the Right Moves

Partly inspired by the history of pranks at the Institute, Tom first came to Caltech as an undergraduate student to study mathematics.

"What got me most excited about Caltech is when I was little, I heard about the Rose Bowl prank where they changed the signs in the stands from Washington to Caltech," remembers Tom, who grew up in Denver. "As time went on, I learned that in addition to being a great place for pranks, Caltech's strengths closely matched my interests and it became my top college choice."

He says the only problem was that, at the time, there were no female students at the Institute. So, upon earning a bachelor’s degree in mathematics, he enrolled in graduate school at Stanford University. That’s where he met Ellyn, though not through classes but in a campus folk-dancing group.

"There was a very active Balkan dancing scene, and I was interested in music from Eastern Europe," remembers Ellyn, who studied music as an undergraduate before earning a master’s degree in German and then a medical degree, all from Stanford. Curious about the brain, she went on to become a neurologist with a private practice.

Tom admits he initially started attending the dance night to find potential dates, but marriage wasn’t the only strong connection he found through folk dancing. He also met James Clark, with whom he would go on to co-found Silicon Graphics Incorporated (SGI), a computer hardware and software company.

"He was there to meet girls, too," Tom says with a laugh. "I credit everything to folk dance."

During his time at SGI—known for creating 3D graphics for some of the top movies of the 1990s, including Titanic and Jurassic Park—Tom worked to build faster graphics machines. Along the way, he met luminaries like cosmologist Stephen Hawking and then President Bill Clinton. He spent his free time volunteering as a math coach for local middle and high school students, and eventually he helped build a program of extracurricular "math circles" for students and teachers to work on mathematical problem solving in a fun environment.

Coming Full Circle

Now retired, Tom and Ellyn are active birdwatchers who have travelled to every continent in search of certain species. They continue to volunteer, mostly on research trips with Stanford’s biology department and the Earthwatch Institute, which connects the public with scientists to assist on conservation research expeditions. Tom is still active in math circles and the project he began in the Bay Area, now called the Math Circle Network, is formally hosted by the American Institute of Mathematics, an independent nonprofit organization funded in part by the National Science Foundation and housed on the Caltech campus.

The couple also has stayed engaged with Caltech as members of the Caltech Associates and has attended events that explored campus labs and connected them with scholars and researchers. At a 2011 TEDxCaltech, theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking made a surprise appearance, much to Ellyn’s delight.

"That was so impressive," she says. "It reminded me of what a great job Caltech is capable of doing, and does regularly."

Tom and Ellyn say these experiences, along with the quality of education at the Institute, helped influence their decision to invest in students.

"One of the things that impresses me about Caltech is that although the school is small, the education is quite broad," Ellyn says. "Everybody assumes Tom only knows about math, but it turns out he knows a lot of physics, he knows a lot of chemistry, he even knows a lot of history."

The couple’s gift bolsters the Initiative for Caltech Students, a fundraising campaign that aims to raise $250 million to enhance every aspect of the student experience.

"Undergraduate scholarships are essential for attracting the best and the brightest students, regardless of their financial situations," says Kevin Gilmartin, vice president and Allen V.C. Davis and Lenabelle Davis Leadership Chair of student affairs and the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of English. "I’m grateful for Tom and Ellyn’s generous gift, which helps us ensure that we can continue to support scholars from all economic backgrounds."

In the 1930s, Tom's father was unable to attend Caltech for financial reasons, and many of Tom's fellow classmates received much needed scholarship support.

"A lot of them were real bright kids, and it would have been a shame to miss them," he says. "If I could help even one more, that’d be great."