AUSTIN, Texas — The University of Texas at Austin community is remembering a graduate student killed in a crash on Friday.
Ulises Rodriguez Montoya and Ryan Wallace were killed in the crash involving a Hays CISD school bus in Bastrop County. According to Wallace's family, he was a Ph.D. student at UT and a new homeowner in Bastrop.
UT faculty describe Wallace as one of the most positive, kind and optimistic people. Wallace created a class at UT centered on teaching science and journalism to non-journalism majors.
He had just finished his dissertation and was about to defend it on April 8. The dissertation was called "Changing Climates: Evolving reporting practices, priorities and audience perceptions regarding the human-nature relationship."
UT professor Kathleen McElroy, who helped Wallace set up the course, said he wanted to become a professor and that the world will miss out after Wallace's sudden death.
"Someone who could have really helped us in terms of research, [to] understand the connection between science and journalism. And someone who cared so much about students," McElroy said. "He developed this undergraduate course. It was very successful, and I think he had a really warm way of taking very heady subjects and making them digestible for young folks ... And that's a gift."
PHOTOS: Remember Ryan Wallace
KVUE reached out to Wallace's family, who sent us his obituary. It reads in part, "As a family, we do not have the words to express the immense and tragic loss that we are feeling after an individual plowed through the heart of our family and upturned the homes of so many others ... Ryan had finally found a rhythm and was genuinely feeling very happy & thankful for the life that he worked so hard to build."