John Gregory Stacy

I was one of of Dr. Stacy's very first graduate students. I met Greg in my junior year of college. I'd just completed an exciting summer internship at NASA Goddard and had returned to Southern for my senior year and was excited to continue research in field of astronomy.

I signed up for Greg's Astronomy class and learned a ton. Greg was excellent at succinctly explaining difficult concepts while keeping the class engaged.
One of the syllabi items were evening trips to the Baton rouge observatory at least once a week.There he taught students star tracking with a cool giant telescope, and recognizing various star constellations. This was a ton of fun!

Dr Stacy was most popular for a program he kicked off at Southern named LaAces. It was an atmospheric balloon project that brought together students from various disciplines to work on a payload that could fly on a scientific ballooon. The year I was part of the program ( I believe 2004) our team programmed a PCBA board that would collect atmospheric data while the scientific balloon was flying. This was an exciting multi month group project for the students, and provided them with research experience they otherwise would not have gotten while at Southern.

I worked with Dr. Stacy on my master's thesis in '05-'06. He had a very good understanding of observational astronomy and working with him spurred me to want to pursue a phd. I eventually completed my PhD at Rice Univ and landed a great job in the semiconductor industry.

Unfortunately after my Phd, I did not get a chance to meet Dr. Stacy in person. We had exchanged emails where I thanked him for the excellent direction he gave me on career pursuit. Without his guidance I likely would have struggled thru my PhD, but with his help and advice I was successful.

In conclusion, Dr. Stacy had a significant impact on various students such as myself. He will be greatly missed. May his soul rest in peace.

We are so sorry to hear of Greg´s passing and send our thoughts and prayers to our cousins, his family and friends. Hugs to you all.

Growing up I remember that my Dad Max Carr) and a couple of uncles including Jack jokingly referred to him as a professional student as he kept earning degree after degree. I admire the path he set for himself and his many accomplishments and achievements.

Greg was my big brother who I always looked up to. As I struggled through school, I always saw Greg STANDING UP in his room studying! I tried that....it didn´t work for me!!
I often wondered if he studied standing up in his room in college . This is a question I´ll ask him in heaven

Dear Jeanne, I'm so sorry to hear about Greg's passing. You and your family are in our thoughts and prayers. Take care, Mickie and Jeff Rivest ( Lisa Stacy's sister and brother in law ).