History of Computing in Cincinnati

through the Eyes of Diversity

Russ McMahon (noPhD)

Associate Professor

School of Information Technology

College of Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services

University of Cincinnati

russ.mcmahon@uc.edu

This talk is based upon research that began in 2005 and will in no way

cover the wealth of material and stories that I have collected.

(280 people were interviewed and/or researched - another 300 persons

were identified as being of interest)

I am a life-long learner. I have a love of history especially in the science

and technical areas. I find stories about people, their struggles and their

flaws, to be most interesting.

I have been blessed to have met many of these persons who helped enrich

our lives through their hard work in the computing field.

Cincinnati’s First Computer Nerd

• In 1942 Viola Woodward graduated from UC. She then joined the Navy until

the end of the war. She completed her masters in mathematics from Stanford

University in 1948.

• She took a job with the US Army’s Ballistic Research Laboratory in Aberdeen,

MD where the ENIAC had been moved. She became part of the second wave

of women programmers to work on the ENIAC and she met John William ‘Bill’

Mauchly on several occasions.

• Worked on the ENIAC, the EDVAC, the ORDVAC, and the BRLESC.

• Later she became the section head for the Army’s ORDVAC computer.

The grandfather of ET • In 1934 Arnold Spielberg graduated from

Hughes High School hoping to be an

engineer. But that was to be put on hold

because of the depression and WWII.

• I945 – 1949 UC; earned BS in electrical

engineering

• Senior project with Henry Federlin

(WPAFB, NCR, GE, RCA, FAA)

• 1950 - he took a job with RCA where he

developed the first computerized point-of-

sale system and was awarded the IEEE

Computing Pioneer Award in 2006 for this

work.

• GE Computer Department Alumni

Association

• 1st computing in this area – 1953 at GE -

IBM 701 – No 6/19

From minor planets to Pringles • Paul Herget obtained his undergraduate degree from UC in 1931 in

mathematics and his PhD in 1935.

• He was born in Fairview; lived in Oakley; grad Withrow HS – Math teacher – Helen Swineford had a big influence on him

• In the 1950s, he began to use computers for his calculations of the

minor planets.

• In 1957 Dr. Herget obtained funding from the NSF and Cincinnati

Gas & Electric to obtain UC’s first computer.

• Other achievements : helped in reducing Allied shipping loses,

calculate Sputnik’s orbit (computernik, beatnik …), helped design Pringles

UC’s first computer was an IBM-650 and was placed in

Swift Hall and later the Physics building. The first 2 years

lease were paid for through grants from CG&E (Duke) and

the NSF. A recognition ceremony will be held June 3,

2008.

In 1949 the Observatory was the home

to an IBM-602 Calculating Punch –

Mayo Lewis, a coop, wrote a detailed

report about the equipment used.

Jan 30, 1908

Aug 26, 1981

Next to Dr. Herget

(left) is David

Levinson

Medical Computing • In 1959 Ted Sterling began to hire high school students to become

programmers developing statistical routines. – In 1940, at age 17, his family fled to the US, leaving their home in Vienna

• In 1964 the Medical Computing Center developed a program to teach

the visually impaired how to program computers.

– 12 students were originally enrolled.

– 1st formal programming course for the blind/visual imparied in the country

– Michael Lichstein – his early work helped perfect a Braille printing system

– Jim Henry - West Hi – BS Math - cerebral palsy (Martha Burks)

– Helen Mueller was one of the instructors

– Dean Wilbur

Humberto Oritz-Zuazaga • 1994 - BS CS UC

– Took a course in Pascal

• Prior to that he was majoring in chemistry, but started doing

computer technical support instead

• Lived in Cincinnati for 5 years

• Wife was working on her PhD at UC

• Ph.D. in Computer Science and Engineering University of

Puerto Rico Mayagüez Campus (2008)

• Describes himself as Programmer-Archaeologist – Did some code ports of older code to more recent platforms using open

source tools

• Thesis work is on the analysis of cDNA expression using

microarrays

• Bio-Informatics

Troy Robinson

• Cincom 1978 – 2008 – Education Manager of Instructors

– Project Supervisor (CBT)

– Marketing Technical Representative

– Senior Marketing Specialist

– Senior Industry Consulltant

– Lead Instructional Design Engineer

• DLA Systems Automation Center, Columbus – Computer Specialist Instructor

• Borden, Inc. Columbus – Operations Control Specialists – Programmer/Analyst

• MANTIS, SQL, COBOL, ALC, MARK IV, RPGII and PL/1; IBM & DEC

platforms

• I took a JC-Hell class from Troy while at Cincom

• Respected leader with a reputation for reliability, integrity, follow-through and

commitment to customer service. Articulate communicator experienced in

forming solid business relationships across all levels of the organizations.

Henry Brasey • Withrow grad (wife later taught there)

• Started out at Shillito’s

• Worked for City – Police Dept

• Went to Evening College – Associates & BS

• Learned to program on his own

• 1975 - Assistant Director of Services/Operations – SWORCC

• 1996 – Director of Academic IT Services – 60 students; 7 days/week

• Adjunct Associate Professor in the College of Engineering – FORTRAN

• Medical computing

• BDPA • Cybercamp – UC and H – CCA BOE

• Tony Yates Junior Golf Acad

• The National Bowling Assoc

Robyn Render • UC’s first African-American Director of UC’s Center for IT Services

• Walnut Hills grad & UC Evening College

• 1992 -- Assistant VP & Director, Center for IT Services

• 1986 – Director UC’s Administrative Information Services

• 2000 – UNC Assoc VP for Information Resources

• 2001 – UNC VP for Information Resources and CIO

• MCNC Robyn Render Endeavor Award

• The Robyn Render Memorial Endowed Scholarship Fund

• 2009 - Vice chancellor for IT for the Nevada System of Higher

Education

Robyn was the keynote speaker

the UC’s ‘50 Years of Computing’

Conference held in 2008

Juan Gilbert • Hamilton High grad

• 1991 – BS Systems Analysis from Miami

– Started in Chemistry

– Dr. David Haddad encouraged him to get his PhD

• Worked at NCR & took evening classes at UC

• 1995 – MS CS

• Started at OSU in HCI, but transferred to UC in 1997

– Dr. Andrea Lawrence, Spelman College

• Winner of the 2014 SIGCSE Award for Lifetime Service to Computer Science Education

– Dr. Carla Purdy, UC

– Dr. Chia Han, UC

• In June 2001 - the first African American to receive a Ph.D. in computer

science from the University of Cincinnati

• Auburn University Clemson University

• Presidential Endowed Chair in Computing & he is the Chair of the Human-

Centered Computing Division

• 2011 - Received Presidential Mentoring Honor

Darius Howard • Winton Woods grad -- ran cross country/track and played

soccer

• Originally wanted to study Graphic Design in DAAP

• Found the Information Technology program

• Cooped at Medplus, Cincinnati Bengals, SIT IT Solution

Center

• Dream job - Cincinnati Bengals

– Manager of their web site & does graphic design

• UC Activities

– Ran varsity track for four years, placing third in the 4x1 relay

in 2012.

– VP - Information Technology Student Association

– Webmaster of ADVANCE

– Member Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc.

• Senior Capstone Project – Dealership Logic

• Cousin – Juan Gilbert

Jasmine Hix • Hughes High School for Teaching and Technology

• Information Technology was her third major at UC

• Involved with ITSA and WIT

• Coop-ed - Chiquita Brands and Cast-Fab Technologies

• Final coop in Singapore during the summer with a small

company called VEEV Interactive

• Volunteer:

– Teaching English classes to immigrants downtown

– At the Cincinnati Computer Cooperative every Wed

• Study abroad in India last spring, which was my first time

on a plane, visiting several different cities such as Delhi,

Bangalore, Agra and Goa

– She also has been to Japan and Malaysia

• Has learned lot about other cultures and has gotten her

interested in more service opportunities abroad

• Senior Capstone Project – App Security Training for AMIG

William Letcher • Represents all of those who have a dream, but never got a chance to make a

make it a reality

• He just wanted to work in the IT field because he found it interesting.

• Jan 2001 he started taking classes at UC and had taken classes from Cin State

• I met him sometime in the Winter-2004 qtr. He came to my office looking for

someone to advise him on what courses he needed to take in order to finish up

his degree. I was working late that day.

• He was from the former CECE (Evening College) in the BAGS-IT program and

the College of Applied Science had recently taken over that program.

• He was Vietnam vet.

• As I was talking to him he informed that he had cancer and not long to live, but

as long as he was alive he was going to work toward his dream of getting a BS

in IT. He and I talked no more than 25 minutes.

• He told me it was his dream to complete his degree

• A couple of months later his wife called and left a message on my phone that

he had passed away. He was 56.

• He had 8 more classes left .

Everything begins with a dream

• Dream + Commit + Work Achieve • Some dreams are easily achieved while others always

remain elusive.

• Many dreams have walls that block you from

achieving them either temporarily, partially, or

permanently.

• Some walls

– are low enough that you can climb over them.

– are short enough that you can walk around them.

– are actually imaginary, but appear to be all too real.

– have windows that you can only look through knowing that you

are unable to get to the other side at this point in time or even

ever.

– have doors that will lead to a whole new and unimagined

opportunity.

• Never stop dreaming.

Thank you