Ottis W. Rechard

BA 1943, Mathematics		As did so many young men, Ottis W. Rechard (son of long-time A&S Dean Ottis H. Rechard) had his studies interrupted by World War II. After distinguished service in the Army Air Force, Rechard went on to the University of Wisconsin for his M.A .and Ph.D. in mathematics. He taught at Wisconsin and at Ohio State before going to the University of California/Los Angeles. He worked five years on the Los Alamos laboratory staff. He later directed the Washington State University Computing Center. As did so many young men, Ottis W. Rechard (son of long-time ABcS Dean Ottis H. Rechard) had his studies interrupted by World War II. After distinguished service in the Army Air Force, Rechard went on to the University of Wisconsin for his MA and PhD in mathematics. He taught at Wisconsin and at Ohio State before going to the University of California/Los Angeles. He worked five years on the Los Alamos laboratory staff. He later directed the Washington State University Computing Center. Rechard has taught mathematics and computer science at the University of Denver for three decades. He chaired the UD Computer Science Department for 13 of those years, and was Director of Systems and Computers. During this time, he was the National Science Foundation Programs Director for computer science programs and chaired NSF's Advisory Panel on Computing Facilities. He's been a consultant to NSF, Idaho Nuclear Corporation and the Los Alamos Science Lab. A Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, he holds membership in many professional organizations, including the Association for Computing Machinery, the American Mathematics Society, the Mathematical Association of America, and the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics. He recalls well a mid-term exam in "Heat and Thermodynamics," taught by physicist Carl Cinnamon "... one of the most enthusiastic, ebullient teachers I've ever known. I thoroughly enjoyed the class -- really more a tutorial since there were only two of us. The other student was Ward Low, a very bright physics major. The exam started at 3:00 pm and was to last one hour. Carl asked a couple open-ended essay-type questions, and neither Ward nor I was willing to stop first and admit that the other had more to say on the subject. Finally, at about 5:30 pm, Carl had to come in and call a halt."