The Virtual World Society will award its first Nextant Prize to the late Randy Pausch, a renowned Carnegie Mellon University computer scientist and virtual world innovator, on June 1 at the Augmented World Expo in Santa Clara, Calif. Pausch, who earned his Ph.D. in computer science at CMU, and was a professor in the Computer Science Department and Human-Computer Interaction Institute, co-founded the Entertainment Technology Center and created the famed Building Virtual Worlds course. The Virtual World Society advocates the use of virtual worlds and augmented reality for societal good; its Nextant Award represents the society’s spirit “to link hearts and minds to create a better world.”