Steven (Nguyen T) Phan ’01, MS ’03 passed away Dec. 22, 2011.

Born in Cho Lon, Vietnam, Nov. 11, 1976, to Tai and Muoi Phan, Steven was a great scholar and striver despite any physical dilemma. He received his bachelor of science in 2001 and master of science in 2003 in computer engineering from Santa Clara University.

With his credentials in place, he continued to pursue his lifelong goals to provide for his family and to find a cure for his illness. In June 2002, he landed on his first big break at NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field for summer intern as a software engineer. Shortly after, he joined IBM Product Release Group and underwent his master of science at SCU in 2003. A year later, he found himself working for IBM Content Management Development. After three years, he changed his passion and pursued in DB2 for z/OS Development as a software developer. In June 2011, he was promoted to staff software engineer.

Aside from his family, he volunteered to his community through charitable donations and awareness programs, helping the unfortunates and educating next generation youths to strive for a better future. Every year, he urged his family to donate any unwanted article of clothing to Hope and Goodwill. He contributed to several natural disaster relief funds to help the victims find their way to a better recovery.