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 University of Nebraska-Lincoln School of Computing. 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.
Hall of Computing Inductees
2015
Mr. Lockard graduated as Valedictorian from high school and attended the University of Nebraska–Lincoln as a Regent’s Scholar majoring in math and physics. He was an initial member of the Nebraska Career Scholars Program for independent studies and is a member of Sigma Pi Sigma National Physics Honorary Society. While doing graduate work in the College of Business, Mr. Lockard worked as a graduate assistant in developing statistical programs for various university departments. He developed pattern recognition routines and storage techniques for use in learning programs and developed new linear programming techniques used to create a land use database and model for the entire U.S. He created an information technology company (TMI) which developed one of the first interactive transaction processing systems for the insurance industry and founded Transaction Application Group (TAG), an insurance third party administration firm (both now owned by DELL). Mr. Lockard is currently founder and CEO of Curazene, a biotech research firm.
Ron Lockard was a Regents scholar at our University and majored in Mathematics and Physics. He was also elected to the Sigma Pi Sigma National Physics Honorary Society. Dr. Ted Jorgenson (a member of the Manhattan Project) was his faculty sponsor. He continued his studies in Business and Computer Science.
His outstanding undergraduate record led to him recognizing the role that Computing would play in the future of science and business in our nation. He was determined to be a part of that future. Upon graduation from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln he took a position in the emerging central computing organization at the university as the Programming Manager.
In recognition of his research contributions in VLSI testing for improving the quality of manufactured digital devices, for his pioneering work in document image analysis for the understanding of page layout and web tables, for service and teaching contributions during his forty-two year career at the university, including the leadership of an interdisciplinary research center and devoted mentoring of students and colleagues, the School of Computing at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln proudly inducts Dr. Sharad Seth into the Nebraska Hall of Computing.
In recognition of his lifetime contributions to the field of computing and the computing industry, Larry Peterson is proudly inducted into the Nebraska Hall of Computing. Larry Peterson is the Robert E. Kahn Professor of Computer Science, Emeritus at Princeton University, where he served as Chair from 2003-2009. He is a coauthor of the best selling networking textbook Computer Networks: A Systems Approach (5e). His research focuses on the design, implementation, and deployment of Internet-scale distributed systems, including the widely used PlanetLab and MeasurementLab platforms. He is currently working on a new cloud-based platform, called OpenCloud. Since resigning from Princeton, Peterson now serves as a strategic consultant for Akamai (which acquired CoBlitz LLC, a CDN technology startup spun out of Princeton in 2008), and is Chief Architect of the Open Networking Lab (a non-profit that builds open source software designed to open Cloud and Internet infrastructure to innovation). He also has an appointment at the University of Arizona.
Larry Peterson is the Chief Architect at the Open Networking Lab. Before ON.Lab, he was the Robert E. Kahn Professor of Computer Science at Princeton University, where he directed the PlanetLab project and served as chair of the CS Department from 2003-2009. In 2007, Peterson co-founded CoBlitz LLC to commercialize CDN technology developed on PlanetLab. CoBlitz was acquired by Veriue Inc. in 2010, and subsequently by Akamai in 2012. Peterson is co-author of the best-selling networking textbook Computer Networks: A Systems Approach (5e). His research focuses on the design and implementation of networked systems. Peterson is a former Editor-in-Chief of the ACM Transactions on Computer Systems, was on the Editorial Board for the IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking and the IEEE Journal on Select Areas in Communication, and served as program chair for SOSP, NSDI, and HotNets. Peterson is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, a Fellow of the ACM and the IEEE, and the 2010 recipient of the IEEE Kobayahi Computer and Communication Award. He received his Ph.D. degree from Purdue University. Check out www.cs.princeton.edu/~llp for more information.
In recognition of her research and fundamental contributions in the modeling and analysis of telecommunications and computer systems leading to world-class performance of the global AT&T network for which she was named an AT&T Fellow (the first woman to receive AT&T’s highest technical honor), her leadership in AT&T Labs in building a world renowned team in the areas of teletraffic theory, performance analysis and network design, for her leadership of the AT&T Labs program that provided financial and mentoring support to women and minorities pursuing doctorates in the sciences and engineering for which this program was awarded the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring, and her dedication to personally mentoring and nurturing younger colleagues in technical disciplines, the University of Nebraska proudly inducts Nebraska native and outstanding University of Nebraska–Lincoln alumna Dr Patricia E. Wirth into the Nebraska Hall of Computing.
Patricia Wirth grew up on a farm outside Nebraska City where an outstanding high school teacher sparked her love for mathematics. After receiving a four year Regents scholarship she earned a B.A. degree in mathematics in three years with honors from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1971. In her first job after college she worked as a statistical research assistant at the Washington University School of Medicine studying innovative forms of health care delivery. She received the M.S. and D.Sc. degrees in Systems Science and Mathematics from Washington University in St. Louis in 1978 and 1981 respectively.
In 1981 Pat joined AT&T Bell Laboratories as a Member of Technical Staff until 1985 when she became a Technical Manager supervising performance modeling of AT&T’s new 5ESS Switch, the first fully software controlled network switching element. In 1990 she was promoted to Head of the Department of Teletraffic Theory and System Performance. She led this evolving department that grew to over 50 experts chartered to assess and improve the performance of AT&T's networks, products and services until her retirement in 2005. During this period she championed a company wide initiative to apply Software Architecture Reviews to all new significant software systems utilizing independent experts from within the company over a multi- day effort. This program led to significant improvements of major software systems meeting their business mission. The paper (co-authored) describing these experiences was named among IEEE Software's 25th Anniversary Thirty-Five Top Picks out of the 1200 peer reviewed full- length articles it had published through 2008.
With the rapid growth of the global Internet in the mid-90s and the opportunity it presented for AT&T as a growth business, Pat moved the major focus of her team. Contributions included the first end-to-end performance modeling of internet based services and associated actual measurable network metrics gathered in real time that alerted when customers were impacted. This work helped AT&T enter into contractual arrangements with clear boundaries and associated measures of quality including penalties with major corporate clients that shared portions of the delivered service. Within AT&T it also helped grow a large new business as a major internet backbone provider and as a provider of contractual services branded and provided by third parties. Additionally, Pat and her team were thought leaders in the international teletraffic community organizing conferences, delivering seminal papers and fostering exchanges and cooperation.
While at AT&T Pat also chaired the AT&T Labs Fellowship Program that provided financial and mentoring support to women and minorities pursuing doctorates in the sciences and engineering; this program was awarded the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring and supported nearly 100 students during her tenure. She has received the YWCA Tribute to Women and Industry Award, the Women of AT&T Management Executive Award and was honored as a “Master” by the University of Nebraska. In 1997 she was the first woman to be named an AT&T Fellow, the highest technical award given at AT&T, "for the application of teletraffic theory, network performance modeling and systems analysis leading to the world-class performance of the global AT&T network."
In recognition of his role in global technical leadership at IBM, including his contributions to the development and implementation of solution design methods, his contributions to design approaches for complex transformational IT solutions, his contributions in the areas of architectural insight and patterns, and for his contributions to the development of the Information Technology Architect profession, the School of Computing at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln proudly inducts Dr. Thomas L. Seevers into the Nebraska Hall of Computing.
Dr. Tom Seevers is an IBM Fellow Emeritus and a Visiting Professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Raikes School Design Studio. Dr. Seevers has played an important role at IBM and in the IT industry for nearly five decades. His accomplishments and contributions are focused in the area of architectural methods and insight. He has also played a significant role in development of the IT architect profession, providing technical leadership and mentoring to the broader community of IT architects. As an architect and senior technical executive, Dr. Seevers has contributed to architecture and solution design in working with some of the world’s largest financial institutions.
Dr. Seevers retired from IBM in 2013 after nearly 49 years of service. During this time he held various positions in field engineering, systems engineering, IT architecture and technical management. In assignments immediately prior to these, Dr. Seevers served as an Executive IT Architect, consulting with numerous Fortune 500 and government clients on strategic choices in information technology, including overall architecture, availability, transaction systems, client/server, network computing and object technology. Clients included some of the largest financial services companies in the U.S.
In recognition of over 50 years of contributions in computer software, services and education, his leadership in the establishment and growth of software and services companies in Nebraska and the midwest as evidenced by his senior executive and founding positions in several publicly traded companies and others, and his support of STEM education initiatives in local secondary and higher education, the School of Computing at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln inducts Dr. George F. Haddix into the Nebraska Hall of Computing.
Dr. George F. Haddix, Ph.D. served as the Chief Executive Officer of PKWARE, INC. Dr. Haddix served as the Chief Executive Officer of Applied Communications Inc. He founded CSG Systems Inc., a subsidiary of CSG Systems International, Inc. and served as its President. Dr. Haddix served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of PKW Holdings, Inc. He worked at PKW Holdings until 1997 and served as a Consultant to PKW Holdings, Inc., until December 1999.
He also co-founded CSG Systems International Inc. in 1994 and served as its President and Chief Technical Officer from 1994 to September 1997. He served as President of CSG Holdings, Inc. from November 1994 to December 1997.
He served as President and Chief Executive Officer of US WEST Network Systems, Inc. from 1987 to 1988. From 1989 to 1991, he served as General Partner in Hansen, Haddix and Associates. He served as the Chairman of the Board of PKWARE, Inc. He also served as Chairman of Applied Communications Inc. Dr. Haddix served as a Director of PKWARE, Inc. and served as Director of PKW Holdings, Inc.
He served as Director of infoGROUP, Inc. (formerly, InfoUSA Inc) from March 1995 to December 9, 2008. He served as a Director of CSG Systems International Inc. from 1994 to May 2005. Dr. Haddix received a Ph.D. in Mathematics from Iowa State University in 1968, an MA from Creighton University and a BA from the University of Nebraska at Omaha, all in Mathematics and has served on the faculties of three universities.
José “Joe” Inguanzo was born and raised on the island of Cuba, arriving in the U.S. on July 4, 1962. After high school, Joe took his aptitude for numbers to the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, where he enrolled as an engineering undergraduate in the fall of 1964. He was soon drawn to the new field of computing and quickly gained enough expertise to work on the mainframe installation in Nebraska Hall. Intrigued by statistical analyses of graduate students’ survey data, he sharpened his skills and chose to focus on statistical applications of computing while earning his bachelor’s and master’s degrees. After earning his Ph.D., he co-founded Professional Research Consultants, Inc., with his wife, Joyce, also a university graduate. Today PRC is the industry’s largest, privately held, minority-owned, healthcare- exclusive custom market research consultancy. It is driven by Joe’s vision of helping hospitals and healthcare systems use custom research surveys and high-level mathematical analyses to become excellent from the perspectives of patients, employees and physicians. PRC now employs nearly 1,000 individuals.
Dr. Joe Inguanzo came to Nebraska as one of the early refugees from Fidel Castro’s Cuba and soon registered at the University of Nebraska to pursue his degree in Electrical Engineering. He was an outstanding undergraduate and graduate student and while working for the university, he worked on and received his PhD in Electrical Engineering.
After leaving the university he and his wife founded Professional Research Consultants. Under his 33 years of leadership it has grown into a firm working in the health systems area and employing over 400 Nebraskans.