Orrin Edison Taulbee

Born October 18, 192 7, Taulbee, Ky.; died May 4, 1987, Pittsburgh, Pa.; organizer of the computer science employment register and founding member of the Computer Science Conference.

Education: BS, Berea College, 1950; MA, Michigan State University, 1951; PhD, mathematics, Michigan State University, 1957.

Professional Experience: research mathematician, Univac Division, Sperry-Rand Corp., 1955-1958; mathematical specialist, Lockheed Aircraft Corp., 1958-1959; associate professor, Michigan State University, 1959-1961; manager, Information Science, Goodyear Aerospace Corp., 1961-1966; University of Pittsburgh: director, Management Information Systems and Computing Center, 1966-1970, professor of computer science, 1966-1987, chairman, Computer Science Department, 1966-1984.

Honors and Awards: ACM Outstanding Contribution Award, 1984.

After 11 years in the computer industry, Orrin Taulbee went to the University of Pittsburgh in 1966 as director of the Computer Center and professor of computer science, mathematics and information science. He was also chairman of the Department of Computer Science until 1984. He served as a visiting scientist at the National Bureau of Standards in 1971 and was a consultant to many industries and universities.

Orrin's concern for computer science student education was appropriately epitomized in the establishment of the "Employment Register" in connection with the annual ACM Computer Science Conference, which he operated with support and assistance from his wife Margaret up until the time of his death.

Orrin Taulbee was a charter member of the Computing Science Board, now called the Computer Research Association. As a member of the board, he was the indefatigable tabulator of the PhDs in "computer science supply and demand." The data he gathered were of the highest quality and have been widely utilized. His data were frequently used in assessing newly proposed PhD programs. In a continuing tribute to his efforts, the annual survey of characteristics of graduating computer scientists, published by ACM and IEEE Computer Society, bears his name, "The Taulbee Survey."

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Biographical

Hamblen, John W., Seymour Wolfson, and Marshall C. Yovits, "Orrin Edison Taulbee, 1928-1987,"Comm. ACM, Vol. 30, No. 8, Aug. 1987, p. 687.