Tim Post was a graduate student in cognitive psychology, receiving his doctorate in 1983. As he was finishing his degree and seeking a position he was diagnosed with leukemia. A few years before he was married to Jane Williams, a graduate student in molecular biology, and during the final months of his life, he and Jane made the decision to ask any memorial money to be given to an annual award fund to encourage excellence in graduate student research. Dr. James Voss was then asked to administrate the program. Basically, the amount exceeded $10,000 and was placed in a university fund containing only that account. The annual award is $500, the account also covering the additional cost of a small reception at the award ceremony. The first award was made in 1989.
Tim was extremely well-liked, and was especially known for his sharing of time and ideas with others, especially graduate students, and he was a true role model in the function of a senior graduate student helping in the schooling and work of the younger students. He was quite intelligent, had a productive graduate career, and subsequently obtained a position at Bell Labs. Moreover, even in his short career there, he won two research awards. Tim did his undergraduate work at Syracuse, he liked sports, and he and Jim usually attended the Pitt-Syracuse football and basketball games.