The Nebraska Hall of Computing - static

The Nebraska Hall of Computing honors individuals with ties to Nebraska who have made significant contributions to one or more of the fields of computer and information science and engineering, the development and utilization of computing technology, and computing education.

The Hall of Computing is sponsored and maintained by the School of Computing at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. Plaques celebrating the honorees and their contributions are proudly displayed at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln campus and the Hall of Computing website recognizes honorees with biographical sketches and photographs.

2010 Inductees

Dr. P. Anandan

In recognition of his research in video motion analysis and fundamental contributions in optical flow, motion estimation, mosaic based video representation, and 3D analysis, for his leadership at Microsoft Research in Redmond in building a world renowned team in computer vision and video processing, for his dedication as an ambassador for Microsoft Research University Relations program in India in developing strong relationships between Indian universities and Microsoft Research, and for his leadership role at Microsoft Research India in mentoring young researchers to focus on technology for underserved communities, the School of Computing at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln proudly inducts an outstanding alumnus Dr. P. Anandan into the Nebraska Hall of Computing. ⬍Bio

P. Anandan is the managing director of Microsoft Research India. Microsoft Research India, which began operating in January 2005, conducts basic research in computing and engineering sciences relevant to Microsoft Corp.’s business and the global IT community, with a special focus on technology for emerging markets and underserved communities, digital geographics, mobility and networks, multilingual systems, rigorous software engineering, cryptography and security, applied mathematics, and algorithms research.

Since June 1997, before being named managing director of Microsoft Research India, Anandan was a senior researcher at Microsoft Research headquarters in Redmond, Wash., where he built one of the world’s strongest research teams in computer vision and video processing.

During that time, he also served as an ambassador for the Microsoft Research University Relations program in India. Through repeat visits to India’s leading institutions of higher learning, Anandan helped develop strong relationships between Indian universities and Microsoft Research. He has also represented Microsoft in meetings with the government of India to emphasize the company’s commitment to research and development. Anandan continues Microsoft Research’s ongoing relationships with the government and academic communities in his new role.

Before joining Microsoft, Anandan was an assistant professor of computer science for four years at Yale University, where he founded the computer vision group. Following this, he was a research manager at Sarnoff Corp. His group developed state-of-the-art video stabilization technology and systems for ground and airborne video surveillance. Over two decades, his research work has resulted in numerous patents, academic papers and recognition in the form of several awards in computer vision. During a research career that has spanned two decades, Anandan has done pioneering research in video motion analysis and is recognized for his fundamental contributions in the area of optical flow, motion estimation, video mosaicking and 3-D scene analysis.

Anandan holds a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, which presented him with a Distinguished Alumni award in 2006. He also attended the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, where he received his master of science in computer science, and the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, where he earned his undergraduate degree in electrical engineering.

Anandan is a native of Chennai, India. His interests outside work include African drumming and the study of philosophy, especially philosophy of the mind.

Dr. George Nagy

In recognition of his outstanding research contributions to a wide range of fields, including optical character recognition, document image analysis, geographic information systems, computational geometry, and interactive visual recognition, for his strong advocacy of designing adaptive systems that improve with use, for his leadership as professor and chair, in establishing the Department of Computer Science at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln on a firm foundation of teaching, research, and service during its formative years in the 1970s, and for his devotion to teaching and mentoring of students and faculty members, the School of Computing at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln proudly inducts Dr. George Nagy into the Nebraska Hall of Computing. ⬍Bio

George Nagy was born in Budapest in 1937. After WWII, a chance meeting between his father and a friend resulted in the family’s migration to Canada instead of Australia. He graduated in Engineering Physics from McGill University in 1959. On completing the MS at McGill and the PhD at Cornell, he joined IBM’s T.J. Watson Research Center, where he was assigned to work on Chinese character recognition because all the Chinese scientists were busy with Cyrillic OCR. He tells what brought him to Nebraska:

“During the summer of 1966, I was chopping rats at Cornell University. Frank Rosenblatt, who had been my thesis advisor five years earlier and whose interests had shifted from perceptron models of cognition to neurochemical experiments, was attempting to understand and confirm the recently reported transfer of learning through brain extracts in worms and rats. I was assisting in the extraction of synaptic end-bulb substance from the cortex of rats trained to run a maze while waiting for the accumulation of the statistical data that Frank had invited me to analyze.

In Frank’s absence, I frequently showed visitors through the lab. One visitor interested in learning more about neural networks was Don Nelson, director of the computing center of the University of Nebraska. After some discussion of brain models and my work at IBM on pattern recognition, he invited me to give two or three weeks of lectures to his staff — before the rise of computer science departments, many computing centers had a strong research orientation. Impressed by Don’s enthusiasm and wide knowledge, I set to work in the fall to prepare the material for the lectures. Already aware that most of the basic algorithms in pattern recognition and image processing were being continuously reinvented with perspectives from statistics, linear algebra, switching theory, combinatorics, control theory, and psychology, I programmed and illustrated each algorithm with the same example. I also read eclectically, and collected experimental applications. The lectures were well received, so immediately after my return I compiled my notes and submitted the material to theProceedings of the IEEE. This article not only became a Citation Classic, but next year, while on leave from IBM with the departments of informatique and of neurophysiologie at the Université de Montréal, my notes passed the trial by fire in a graduate course.

The first visit led to another invitation to Lincoln five years later. On the basis of that first agreeable experience, and impressed by the department’s talented young faculty and UNL’s exceptional computing facilities, I eagerly accepted the chairmanship of the University of Nebraska Department of Computer Science in 1972. One thing that I recall learning quickly was that at conferences in those years, recruiting committees had to queue up at the tables of the few available computer science faculty candidates!”

At UNL Nagy coauthored conference papers and journal articles with more than a half dozen faculty and many students. In 1985, the declining health of aging parents prompted the family’s return to the East Coast. Since then, he has been Professor of Computer Engineering at RPI where he teaches pattern recognition, probability, and digital design. He participates in research projects with former UNL colleagues, keeps in touch with several Nebraska students (a few of whom have already retired), and enjoys introducing new graduate students from around the world to the joys and frustrations of research (23 PhDs to date). He is a Fellow of the IEEE and of the International Association for Pattern Recognition, and received a Lifetime Contributions award from the document analysis community. In his spare time he enjoys skiing, sailing, and writing prolix surveys.

"State of the Art in Pattern Recognition," G. Nagy, Proceedings of the IEEE , vol. 56, #5, pp. 336-362, May 1968. Current Contents "Citation Classic", pp. 12, January 22, 1979.

Dr. William Sutherland

In recognition of his role as the technical manager and mentor of three major research laboratories at Sun Microsystems, Xerox PARC, and BBN during the development of some of the most important computing innovations of the past half century, in particular, advanced microprocessors, the Java programming language, the development of the personal computer, and the Internet; for his fostering the collaboration between scientists at Caltech and Xerox PARC to produce educational materials in VLSI design that helped expedite the spread of the nascent technology, whose impact continues to transform our lives, the School of Computing at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln proudly inducts Nebraska native Dr. William (Bert) Sutherland into the Nebraska Hall of Computing. ⬍Bio

William R. (Bert) Sutherland (born 1936 in Hastings, Nebraska) was the longtime manager of three prominent research labs, including Sun Microsystems Laboratories (1992–1998), the Systems Science Laboratory at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center - PARC - (1975–1981), and the Computer Science Division of Bolt, Beranek and Newman, Inc. (1970-75) which helped develop the ARPANET.

In these roles, Sutherland participated in the creation of the personal computer, the technology of advanced microprocessors, the Java programming language and the Internet.

Unlike traditional corporate research managers, Sutherland added individuals from fields like psychology, cognitive science, and anthropology to enhance the work of his technology staff. He also directed his scientists to take their research, like the Xerox Alto "personal" computer, outside of the lab to allow people to use it in a corporate setting and to observe their interaction with it.

In addition, Sutherland fostered a collaboration between the Caltech researchers who simplified the design of very large-scale integrated circuits (VLSI) -- his brother Ivan and Carver Mead -- and Lynn Conway of his PARC staff. With PARC resources made available by Bert, Mead and Conway developed a textbook and university syllabus that helped expedite the development and distribution of integrated circuit design technology whose impact is now immeasurable.
Sutherland said that a research lab is primarily a teaching institution, "teaching whatever is new so that the new can become familiar, old, and used widely.

Sutherland received his Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (1957), and his Master's Degree and Ph.D. from MIT (1963,1966); his PhD thesis advisor was Claude Shannon. During his military service as a carrier pilot in the United States Navy (1957-62), he was awarded the Legion of Merit as a Carrier Anti Submarine Warfare plane commander.

2015 Inductees

To be announced...