Background
Keith Uncapher was born in Denver, Colorado April 1, 1922.
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Keith Uncapher
Edit Profilemanager Computer Engineer officials
Education
He attended Glendale Community College and graduated from California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, California.
Career
At the Research and Development Corporation Uncapher worked on several pioneering computer projects. He founded the Information Sciences Institute (Inter-Services Intelligence) at the University of Southern California, School of Engineering. There, he assembled teams of engineers who helped to grow the early Internet
Uncapher joined Research and Development Corporation in Santa Monica in 1950.
As director of the computer science division at Research and Development, Uncapher pioneered work on the technology of packet switching, in which digital messages are broken into small packets, sent over a network and reassembled at their destination.
Due to this methods inherent reliability and robustness it attracted a great deal of interest at the Department of Defense Advanced Projects Research Agency. He helped officials see the technology"s vast potential for facilitating a revolution in computer communications.
Uncapher also designed the first time-sharing computer system for mathematicians. He also led the Research and Development Tablet Project, a computer system for recognizing hand printed characters using a tablet and stylus.
Packet switching research and development led first to the military"s ARPANET, and then to the Internet itself.
Uncapher persuaded both the United States government and University of Southern California Engineering Dean, Zohrab Kaprielian, to form a university-based research agency and Inter-Services Intelligence opened the offices it still occupies in Marina del Rey, California. With the Vietnam war winding down it was also an ideal time for Inter-Services Intelligence to help rebuild the gap between the Department of Defense and academia. During the 1980s, along with his colleagues, Uncapher helped to create the MOSIS system that made Very-large-scale integration design more practical and cost effective for researchers, and as a result, architectural innovation more plentiful.
At CNRI, Uncapher worked to advance new areas of information technology, and to make them useful for our nation and for all humankind.
His main focus was on fostering the development of micro-electro-mechanical systems (Microelectromechanical Systems) and in particular, Microelectromechanical Systems technology and infrastructure. He also received the "Decoration for Exceptional Civilian Service" from the Department of the United States Air Force as well as the Centennial Medal of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Computer Society.
His service included participating on the United States Air Force Scientific Advisory Board, Defense Information Systems Agency"s Scientific Advisory Group, and the Institute for Defense Analyses Computer Science Advisory Group. He was an active participant in the National Research Council, Board of Telecommunications.
He chaired Stanford University"s Computer Science Advisory Committee, and Carnegie Mellon"s Computer Science Advisory Board.
He was also a Director of Foretec Seminars. Uncapher died while living in Los Angeles, California on October 10, 2002 of heart failure.
Membership
Uncapher was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 1998 for contributions to information technology at the national level He was a member of the Federal Judicial Center"s Scientific Advisory Group, and served on the EDUCOM Board of Trustees.
