S. Scott Collis

On September 13, 2022, Samuel Scott Collis of Albuquerque died at the age of 55 from a rare and aggressive cancer. Scott was born to Robert and Lynn Collis in Winchester, Virginia. He graduated with academic honors from Bartlesville High School, received his B.S. in Aerospace Engineering summa cum laude from the University of Kansas while participating in a Cooperative Education Program at McDonnell Douglass in St. Louis, and earned his M.S. and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University. Scott and Emily were married in Palo Alto and were blessed to raise two incredible sons, Henry and Graham. Scott's impactful professional career began as an assistant professor of Mechanical Engineering at Rice University in Houston, followed by nearly twenty years of distinguished service at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, with his last leadership position as Director of Computing Research. Scott enjoyed sporting activities with his family, particularly tennis and golf, was the family's grill master, and had a fondness for programming, audio equipment, cars, and Kansas Jayhawks basketball. He was known for his hard work, wisdom, loyalty, generosity, and decency. Scott is survived by his loving wife of 27 years, two young adult sons, parents, sister, brother, mother-in-law, sister- and brother-in-law, aunt, several cousins and nieces, and two beloved dogs.

A service open to the public celebrating Scott's life will be held at 1:00 pm on Saturday, September 24 at Tanoan Country Club. In lieu of flowers, please give time or treasure to the Roadrunner Food Bank in Albuquerque or perform a random act of kindness in Scott's memory.