November 24, 2005 Source: University of New Brunswick - Saint John:
http://www.unb.ca/news/view.cgi?id=916 UNBF's Wasson and Horton Honoured as Pioneers of Computing in Canada November 24, 2005
UNB Fredericton News Release: D555
Natalie Montgomery, Public Relations Officer (506) 451-6842 Perseverance, vision, and leadership — these words can be used to describe a pioneer. They can also be used to describe the University of New Brunswick’s Joe Horton and Dana Wasson. Drs. Horton and Wasson were honoured last month with the distinction of Pioneers of Computing in Canada. They were among 90 members of the Canadian computer science community recognized for their groundbreaking work at the annual IBM Canada Centre for Advanced Studies conference held in Toronto. Dr. Wasson is dean emeritus and professor emeritus in UNB Fredericton’s faculty of computer science and Dr. Horton is a professor in the faculty. They are among the leaders in their field who have contributed to the development of computer science research and education programs at some of Canada’s leading universities. Both say they are honoured to receive this recognition. "It’s nice to be recognized for work that was done in the early days of computing," said Dr. Wasson. "Its nice to see people who led in this area being recognized for their efforts. You don’t often get a chance to start something new, but I was lucky that I was around in a time when we could start things from scratch." Dr. Wasson’s interest in computers dates back to his senior year as an electrical engineering student at UNBF. As part of a senior project, he and a classmate, built what has now become known as the four-function calculator. Dr. Wasson’s computing career spans 41 years. He returned to UNBF in 1958 as an assistant professor in the department of electrical engineering after receiving his master’s degree from MIT. His vision to provide computer science training to students outside the faculty of engineering led to the creation of the department of computer science in 1968, which eventually evolved into the faculty of computer science in 1990. In the same year (1990), he become the first dean of computer science in Canada. "I was able to start a new major area of study at the university," he said. "And because this was a brand new program, I had more influence in shaping the curriculum." In 2003, UNBF named its computing centre after Dr. Wasson — the Wasson Computing Centre. Dr. Horton is best known for publishing the first polynomial time algorithm in 1987, finding the shortest cycle basis of a graph. This discovery has been used in solving electrical network problems, finding optimal cyclic schedules, and categorizing organic chemicals. Dr. Horton’s knowledge of computers isn’t just used for work. "One summer, I worked at the University of Waterloo, and the software that we were using was too buggy to make much progress towards our goal of changing flowcharts drawn on CRT into FORTRAN programs automatically," said Dr. Horton. "In two weekends and the nights in between, however, I wrote a chess playing program. People did not have good chess playing programs in the 1960s." Dr. Horton came to UNBF in 1981 as a professor in the faculty of computer science. He teaches both computer science and math courses. To be named a pioneer, honourees must have received their PhD prior to 1973, spent a substantial part of their career at a Canadian university and made a significant contribution to the development of computing education or research in Canada. The nominees were chosen by a committee of their peers from various Canadian universities and members of the IBM Center for Advanced Studies. - 30 -
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