Browsing by Subject "Unisys Corporation"

Now showing 1 - 9 of 9
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    Oral history interview with Arnold Spielberg
    (Charles Babbage Institute, 1987-06-23) Spielberg, Arnold
    Spielberg, an electronics engineer and manager in Product Technology Operations for Unisys, discusses product development in the computer industry. He describes his work with RCA and General Electric Computer Dept. in the 1950s; IBM, Scientific Data Systems, and Electronic Arrays in the 1960s; and his work with Burroughs (and later Unisys) after 1973. Subjects discussed include: point-of-sale equipment; product development and marketing; GE 225; IBM computers; Burroughs computers; Scientific Data System's SIGMA series; and GP2000 (a cooperative graphics product of Burroughs and Superset).
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    Oral history interview with Bobby A. Creech
    (Charles Babbage Institute, 1987-06-27) Creech, Bobby A.
    Creech, manager of Product Technology Operations at Unisys' Pasadena plant at the time of the interview, discusses his career at the Burroughs Corporation since 1962. Subjects discussed include: his management of software and programming on the B 6500; coding for data communications on the B 5500; his responsibilities as the Terminal Systems Group director; and his management of the Medium Systems Group at Pasadena.
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    Oral history interview with Gayle Spiess
    (Charles Babbage Institute, 2015-12-14) Spiess, Gayle
    Gayle Spiess grew up in Minneapolis and attended Valparaiso University (in Indiana), graduating in 1977 with a Bachelor of Science in mathematics. She had worked for Sperry Univac one summer during college, then after graduating took a full-time professional position at Plant 8 (Eagan, MN) doing programming for a Navy ship project. She notes support from her direct supervisor as well as self-study in 16-bit assembler code, which she used for more than a dozen years. Her working group was stable for 3-4 years, even when she physically worked on a top secret project in Building 6 near the original Engineering Research Associates (ERA) plant in St. Paul. Back in Eagan, she worked on a Navy communication system (NAVMACS) and assisted with warship installations in Virginia, Japan, and Australia. Later she did programming with the high-level language ADA as well as C, which became the dominant programming language. A major responsibility was software for the air traffic control (ATC) group from 1993 to 2002 (eventually part of Lockheed Martin), then first-line management and project engineering for ATC (2002-7). She discusses recruitment and characteristics of successful project teams and managerial strategies for them. She also relates observations about changes in corporate culture with the Unisys merger, Loral acquisition, and Lockheed Martin purchase. This material is based on work funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation award B2014-07 “Tripling Women’s Participation in Computing (1965-1985).”
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    Oral history interview with Jean M. Baker
    (Charles Babbage Institute, 2015-12-07) Baker, Jean M.
    Jean Baker attended the University of Minnesota, majoring in electrical engineering with an emphasis on digital design. The summer of 1980 she worked for Honeywell (St. Louis Park, MN) on ring laser gyroscopes. Graduating in 1981 she took a job in the defense systems division of Sperry Rand, working in Eagan, Minnesota, to develop computers for the US Navy. Her technical work focused on gate arrays for input-output cards, including the UYK-43 computer. After working part-time while raising small children, she moved to a new job at LSI Logic (1995-2009) working on ASICs for IBM, HP, Lexmark, and Seagate then moving into management. This material is based on work funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation award B2014-07 “Tripling Women’s Participation in Computing (1965-1985).”
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    Oral history interview with Lonni J. Wersal
    (Charles Babbage Institute, 2016-01-14) Wersal, Lonni J.
    Lonni Wersal graduated from Highland Park High School in 1975, then took an entry-level clerical position at Sperry in Eagan, Minnesota, in 1977. With her manager’s encouragement, she took programming classes at St. Paul Vo-Tech. She subsequently worked in a variety of positions, as administrator for software engineering for UYK-20 (1981-89), as technical and programmatic support for several Navy projects including Aegis (1989-94), and as product manager for the Q-70 program (1994-2002), one of the Navy’s first Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) projects. She describes reporting requirements to the Navy during the several corporate transitions (Unisys to Lockheed Martin) as well as her move to Dahlgren, Virginia, in 2002 to work at a Navy Aegis program office. She discusses informal networks of women at Lockheed Martin. This material is based on work funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation award B2014-07 “Tripling Women’s Participation in Computing (1965-1985).”
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    Oral history interview with Mary Shutt
    (Charles Babbage Institute, 2015-11-06) Shutt, Mary
    Mary Shutt graduated from Purdue University in 1980 with a degree in industrial engineering, finding it a supportive educational environment. After interviewing with a number of companies, she landed a job offer with Sperry Univac in the Twin Cities. Her first responsibilities were material-based planning and manpower projections, working initially at Univac’s Shepard Road factory site. She became a specialist with Univac’s MAPPER software, suitably modified to calculate real-time “what-if” scenarios that were useful in proposal preparation and planning (for example) for the UYK-43 and UYK-44 programs. Subsequently, she worked with industrial automation and factory design, then moved into proposal development, project management, and contracts. A major effort was the Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM). When Lockheed Martin’s Eagan facility closed, she moved to PDA which continued work for the U.S. Navy. She remarks on changes she observed in corporate culture with the Unisys merger and Lockheed Martin management. This material is based on work funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation award B2014-07 “Tripling Women’s Participation in Computing (1965-1985).”
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    Oral history interview with Nancy Gunther
    (Charles Babbage Institute, 2015-12-02) Gunther, Nancy
    Nancy Gunther grew up in Mason City, Iowa, attended the local community college then majored in mathematics (including computing) at the University of Iowa. In 1966 she went to work for Sperry Rand Univac in St. Paul. She worked as a programmer initially in Advanced Tactical Systems using assembly language and Compiler Monitor System for 18 bit computers. She describes and compares working conditions and company culture in St. Paul and also, from 1967 forward, at the Navy Systems department (Eagan MN) as well as in Montreal (1984-1987). Her technical work focused on operating systems and command-and-control systems for navy ships and submarines. She describes the culture changes with the merger between Sperry and Burroughs to create Unisys. This material is based on work funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation award B2014-07 “Tripling Women’s Participation in Computing (1965-1985).”
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    Oral history interview with Patricia B. Myhre
    (Charles Babbage Institute, 2015-11-23) Myhre, Patricia B.
    Patricia Myhre graduated from Creighton University with a mathematics degree, and then went to work for Sperry Rand Univac in St. Paul in 1976. She did software testing for several U.S. Navy programs, starting with destroyer warships for Iran and later the P3 aircraft. Myhre eventually moved from software testing to system testing, involving complex operational interfaces between Univac and other companies’ equipment. The interview discusses work culture and environments in several different Univac office complexes in the Twin Cities metro as well as with the corporate reorganizations (first, the merger with Burroughs and later the purchase by Lockheed Martin). This material is based on work funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation award B2014-07 “Tripling Women’s Participation in Computing (1965-1985).”
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    Oral history interview with Patricia Westergren
    (Charles Babbage Institute, 2015-11-09) Westergren, Patricia
    Patricia Westergren worked as a program manager for Sperry Rand Univac and successor companies, after graduating from the University of Minnesota, working in the Computer Systems Division and the Air Traffic Control Division. She discusses patterns and expectations about women’s career paths, which she upended after completing an executive training rotation and then going in to Marketing. Much of her work entailed contract negotiations with other corporate units and external companies. John Westergren, her husband, comments also on her career and his observations about company culture. They both discuss work-family balancing. Later in her career she managed software development for MedNet. This material is based on work funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation award B2014-07 “Tripling Women’s Participation in Computing (1965-1985).”