Both feet planted firmly in the world of sport and algorithms
Erik Meineche Schmidt – former dean of Science and Technology – turns 70 this year and is retiring on 1 October 2015 after working for many years at Aarhus University.
Science and sport go hand in hand for Erik Meineche Schmidt. For almost 25 years, he has been able to stand the heat on the board of directors of the Aarhus Gymnastics Club (AGF), at the same time as being one of the ambassadors and lecturers who helped shape not only the Department of Computer Science at Aarhus University, but also the nationwide education policy.
It is hard to talk about education and research policy at Aarhus University without mentioning Erik Meineche Schmidt. As dean of the former Faculty of Science at Aarhus University, he left his mark on a comprehensive study reform and set up the MSc degree programme in Engineering in Aarhus. As chairman of the Danish Science and Engineering Deans Conference, he also helped influence the upper secondary school reform. And as a member of the Danish Government’s Commission on Grading Scales, he contributed to the new grading scale that superseded the 13-point scale.
Heavily committed to education and research policy
Behind the person and the CV, which still lists a number of active board memberships, including the Alexandra Institute and the House of Natural Sciences, as well as chief consultant at Aarhus University, there is a desire to be involved in education and research policy.
“Erik loves teaching, and that’s also why he’s been used as a lecturer for many years in the introductory Computer Science course. Not only was he able to design the Computer Science degree programme, but he also made sure that it was kept up to date in its development. He’s also been called on from external sources, including the ministry, which has used him for a long period as adviser. His work on the 7-point scale is one example. He also helped design what was necessary to equip upper secondary school teachers with the right skills when IT was introduced into the school system in the late 1980s,” says Professor and Vice-Dean Mogens Nielsen, Science and Technology, Aarhus University, one of the people who has known Erik for a very long time.
Dr Schmidt has also been an important ambassador for the department and the field of IT.
“He’s been very active in working with the city, the region and the business sector and, in this way, he’s been a fantastic ambassador in all external collaboration. It’s been important to have such a person playing this role, for both Computer Science and Aarhus University,” says Professor Nielsen.
Among the first in Computer Science
Dr Schmidt was a Mathematics student at the Marselisborg Upper Secondary School in 1964, and he subsequently commenced his studies in Mathematics and Physics at Aarhus University. When he had completed the first part, he contacted Bjarne Svejgaard – who had been brought to Aarhus from Copenhagen – and asked him whether there was anything available to study.
“I can clearly remember my question, and he felt it was possible. This meant that I was among the first to study what later became Computer Science,” he says.
Dr Schmidt completed his MSc in 1972 with a major in Computer Science, and he was subsequently appointed assistant professor at the department. It was at this time that the regional computer centres were being established at Aarhus University, the University of Copenhagen and the Technical University of Denmark.
“I chose to stick to Computer Science because I was passionate about education and research and I had an opportunity to help design the degree programme. These were pioneering times in a sense that there were no approved standards and nobody from the previous generation to say how the teaching should take place. It was therefore a unique opportunity to take part in influencing the development and shaping a path that would have an impact on young people,” he says.
Helping to reform the PhD degree programmes
In 1975, Dr Schmidt went to the USA to take his PhD degree at Cornell University in New York. When he returned in 1977, it was not only to continue his career, but also to take up an appointment as associate professor at the Department of Computer Science. He also came back with inspiration as to how to improve the PhD degree programmes, and he therefore launched an American-style reform during the period in which he was chairman of the PhD Committee at the former Faculty of Science.
“We agreed that we should boost the number of PhD graduates in Denmark and get the most talented students through their education much quicker, so we extended the old apprenticeship scheme and made it possible to commence much earlier,” he says.
His work with the PhD degree programmes provided him with close insight into the university world. Based on this, he applied and was appointed to the position of dean in 2002 at the former Faculty of Science, Aarhus University. During his nine-year period as dean, he helped initiate engineering activities and made it possible to take an MSc in Engineering at Aarhus University.
He also played a key role in the start-up of the Centre for Basic Research in Computer Science (BRICS), funded by the Danish National Research Foundation, as well as being coordinator of the European Commission’s Algorithms and Complexity project. For a number of years, he was also chairman of the Danish National Science Education Committee and the Danish National Education Council’s Chairmen’s College.
Sportsman both on and off the field
Sport has also taken up a good part of Dr Schmidt’s life. For ten years until 1973, he played handball at top level for AGF and he has subsequently had a long executive career as both handball chairman and main chairman, and was chairman of the board of AGF Contract Football Ltd (now Aarhus Elite A/S) during the period 2000–2003.
“I’ve always wanted to be involved in things where I saw a challenge. This goes right back to my time as chairman of the student council at upper secondary school. And it applies to a great degree to sport and what goes with it – time with the trainers, co-players and management. Basically, standing the heat in sport is something I really like, and I’ve therefore felt comfortable with it,” he says.
And the department has benefited greatly from this desire to get involved. Especially his social involvement, according to Professor Nielsen.
“Particularly at the start, he was a standard bearer for internationalising the department and, right from day one, he has played an enormous role in ensuring that the environment was good enough socially. He was very keen to make sure that visitors had a good time, and he invited them out on excursions. This shouldn’t be underestimated, because it meant that you were very soon integrated,” says Professor Nielsen.
Farewell reception on 22 September
The Department of Computer Science would like to invite employees and students to a farewell reception for Erik Meineche Schmidt on Tuesday 22 September at 15.00 in the Nygaard Building, building 5335, Finlandsgade 21, 8200 Aarhus N. Read more here .