Doctoral candidate killed in crash weeks before presenting dissertation, family says

AUSTIN, Texas. (Gray News) - A University of Texas at Austin doctoral candidate was killed in a car accident weeks before presenting his dissertation.

Ryan Wallace, a doctoral candidate at the School of Journalism and Media, was on his way to pick up his sister’s kids when he was killed in a crash in Bastrop County, KXAN reports.

Wallace was killed in the crash involving a Hays CISD school bus in Bastrop County. The accident also killed 5-year-old Ulises Rodriguez Montoya.

Wallace’s family told KXAN that he was two weeks away from presenting his dissertation to receive his doctorate.

UT Journalism Professor Kathleen McElroy told KXAN that Wallace was very intelligent and insightful on many subjects.

“He was also a very giving person,” said McElroy. “I think that we all would have enjoyed having him as a faculty member. He would have been a great instructor and researcher in journalism.”

McElroy also started a GoFundMe to help Wallace’s family.

She shared that Wallace was a science writer and editor and he had worked with multiple publications,

Wallace’s committee will still meet on the day he was set to defend his dissertation to honor him.