Issue: Spring 2003

Keith Uncapher

Computer scientist Keith Uncapher, whose pioneering research and development of computer networking helped lay the foundation for the Internet, died Oct. 10, 2002, of a heart attack, in Los Angeles. He was 80.

Uncapher founded the Information Sciences Institute at the USC School of Engineering in 1972 and served as its executive director until 1987. Under his leadership, ISI researchers developed the “dot.com” domain name system and made major contributions to electronic mail and basic Internet protocols.

“Keith Uncapher was a brilliant pioneer whose work advanced not only USC and its School of Engineering, but the whole field of computers,” said a fellow engineer, USC President Steven B. Sample.

Uncapher attended Glendale College and completed his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo. He served four years in the U.S. Navy during World War II.

At the time of his death, Uncapher was senior vice president of the Corporation for National Research Initiatives in Reston, Va., an organization he co-founded in 1986 with fellow Internet pioneers Robert E. Kahn and Vinton Cerf. He was also associate dean for information sciences, emeritus, at the USC School of Engineering.

Uncapher chaired the Stanford University Computer Science Advisory Committee and the Carnegie-Mellon University Computer Science Advisory Board. He was a member of the U.S. Air Force Scientific Advisory Board; the National Research Council, Board of Telecommunications; the Defense Information Systems Agency’s Scientific Advisory Group; the Federal Judicial Center’s Scientific Advisory Group; the Carnegie-Mellon Visiting Committee on Science; the Institute for Defense Analyses Computer Science Advisory Group; and the EDUCOM board of trustees.

His honors included a Distinguished Service Award from the American Federation of Information Processing Societies; the U.S. Air Force Decoration for Exceptional Civilian Service (its highest civilian honor); and the Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineers Computer Society Centennial Medal. The citation upon his election in 1998 to the National Academy of Engineering noted his contribution to “information technology on the national level.” The NAE is engineering’s most distinguished society.

He is survived by his wife, Doris, and two sons, William and Jeffrey. A memorial celebrating Uncapher’s life and accomplishments took place on the Engineering Quad on the University Park Campus in November 2002.