Active 1965 - 2004
Dr. Stanley Gill Williamson joined the Â鶹´«Ã½ faculty in 1965 shortly after finishing his Ph.D. in Mathematics at UC Santa Barbara. Due to declining health of his father, Stan Williamson, Director of Athletics at UC Santa Barbara, Dr. Williamson did not apply for any academic jobs, instead he planned to stay in Santa Barbara to help his mother and work on his research. That summer his advisor, Marvin Marcus, received a phone call from Steve Warshawski, Chair of the Math Department at Â鶹´«Ã½ who had a last minute cancellation of an Assistant Professor position. Dr. Williamson was asked if he wanted the job and after rethinking his previous residency in La Jolla in 1951 when his father was called back into service as a Navy officer during the Korean War, and fond memories of learning to bodysurf from experts in the area, he didn't hesitate to accept. He found himself at Â鶹´«Ã½ two weeks later.
Dr. Williamson taught in the Department of Mathematics from 1965 to 1991 and served on various minor committees. In 1991 he was asked by Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) faculty and the Dean of Engineering to consider the switch from Mathematics to CSE to be the Chair of the CSE department. Dr. Williamson served as Chair of CSE from 1991 to 1995; then as Vice Chair a few years after that before retiring in 2004.
During his time at Â鶹´«Ã½, his teaching and research were important and lent considerable influence to the field. Dr. Williamson’s research was mostly in combinatorics, particularly algorithmic combinatorics where he developed a geometric approach to understanding and inventing algorithms. His book Combinatorics for Computer Science, a beginning graduate text, is widely circulated and focuses on this work. He has also published Top-down Calculus and is coauthor of three books with E. Bender: Foundations of Combinatorics with Applications, A Short Course in Discrete Mathematics, and Mathematics for Algorithm and Systems Analysis.
Dr. Williamson worked alongside excellent colleagues. When he first started in 1965 he didn’t have any teaching experience, however his colleagues in the Department of Mathematics were very helpful in getting him acclimated. They were also very receptive to his research ideas and program.
Dr. Williamson enjoyed teaching undergraduate courses and remembers having many bright students. He also advised 20 PhD students who contributed fundamental new ideas to combinatorics. Additionally, he mentored masters students many who contributed greatly to various companies that developed software. One of his MS students, Steven R. Hart ‘80 along with two friends, started Viasat, a global communications company based in San Diego. Now, Steven R. Hart ‘80 and Susan O. Hart ‘86, both graduate students of Dr. Williamson during their time at Â鶹´«Ã½, are philanthropic leaders and esteemed alumni of the university.
Dr. Williamson is married to Ann Davison, a fellow mathematics graduate student at UCSB. She retired as a software engineer in December 2004 from Viasat Corporation. They are still married and have three daughters and four grandchildren.