Research Interests

Design and analysis of architectures and protocols for communication networks including:

• Satellite and hybrid communication networks     
• Optical WDM networks 
• Wireless and sensor networks

My primary goal is the design of network architectures that are cost effective, scalable, and meet emerging needs for high data-rate and reliable communications. An important aspect of my research is the development of architectures and algorithms that are optimized across multiple layers of the protocol stack. To that end, my research crosses disciplinary boundaries by combining techniques from network optimization, queueing theory, graph theory, network protocols and algorithms, hardware design and physical layer communications.

More information about my research activities can be found on the
Communications and Networking Research Group (CNRG) web page.

Employment Experience

Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Associate Professor with Tenure (July 2006 - present)
Associate Professor (June 2003 – June 2006)
Assistant Professor (August 1999 – June 2003)
Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AA) and Operations Research Center (ORC)
Responsible for teaching communications and networks classes in the AA and EECS Departments:

  • Developed a new undergraduate class on digital communications and networks (16.36)
  • Co-developed a new graduate class on space communications and networks (16.399)
  • Significantly revised the EECS graduate class on data networks (6.263/16.37)
  • Supervised 10 Ph.D. students and 14 M.S. students who have taken on positions in Academia, Research Labs, and Industry. 

Received over $4,000,000 in funded research projects including:

  • Optical Networks research funded by NSF, DARPA, Intel
  • Space Networks research funded by NASA, DARPA, JPL
  • Wireless/sensor Networks research funded by NSF, Draper Labs, ONR, AFOSR, Samsung

MIT Lincoln Laboratory
Member of Technical Staff  (August 1993 –August 1999).
Developed architectures for future military satellite networks
Project leader for Next Generation Internet (NGI) all optical networking project

Northeastern University, College of Computer Science
Adjunct Professor (January 1994 – June 1999).
Taught courses on computer networks at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. 

National Research Council/Naval Research Laboratory
Post Doctoral Fellow (August 1992 - July 1993).
Conducted research in the area of network performance analysis. 

Education

Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering - August, 1992
University of Maryland, College Park.
Major Area: Communications. Minor Area: Computer Architecture.
Advisor: Prof. Anthony Ephremides
Thesis: Security and Performance Issues in Distributed Protocols.
 
M.S. in Electrical Engineering - August, 1989
University of Maryland, College Park.
Thesis: Communication Complexity of Secure Distributed Computation in the Presence of Noise.

B.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science - June, 1986
(Dual Degrees in both Electrical Engineering and in Computer Science)
University of Connecticut, Storrs.

Awards: 

ACM Sigmetrics/Performance 2006 Best Paper Award (2006)
Wiopt 2005 Best Student Paper Award (2005)
INFOCOM 2003 Best Paper Award Finalist (2003)
Mobicom 2003 Best Paper Award Finalist (2003)
National Research Council Fellow (1992 – 1993)

Professional Service

Technical Program Co-Chair, IEEE Infocom 2007

Technical Program Co-Chair, ACM MobiHoc 2007

Technical Program Co-Chair, IEEE Wiopt 2006

Technical Program Co-Chair, High-Speed Networking workshop, (part of Infocom 2002)

Currently serving as Associate Editor for:

  • IEEE Transactions on Information Theory - Communication Networks area          2005 to Present
  • AIAA Journal of Aerospace Computing, Information, and Communications          2003 to Present
  • The International Journal of Satellite Communications                                             2002 to Present

Served as Associate Editor for:

  • Elsevier Optical Switching and Networking Journal                                       2003 to 2005
  • Optical Networks Magazine                                                                            2000 to 2004
  • Elsevier Computer Networks Journal                                                              1999 to 2002

Served as Guest Editor for a number of special issues, including:

  • IEEE JSAC special issue on WDM network architectures          (2001)
  • Computer Networks Journal special issue on Broadband Internet Access (1999)
  • Journal of Communications and Networks issue on Wireless Ad-Hoc Networks (2004)
  • IEEE Journal of Lightwave Technology special issue on Optical Networks (2005)

Served on the program committees for most major networking conferences, including:

  • IEEE Infocom (1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008)
  • ACM MobiHoc (2003, 2007)
  • IEEE High Performance Switching and Routing (HPSR) (2003, 2004, 2005)
  • IEEE Design of Reliable Communication Networks (DRSN)(2003, 2005)
  • Opticom (2000, 2001, 2002, 2004)
  • Allerton Conference (1999, 2000, 2001)
  • IEEE Globecom (1998, 2000)
  • IEEE ISCC (2000, 2001, 2002)
  • IEEE ICC (2003)
  • IEEE BroadNets (2004)

Consulting Record

Aerospace Corporation (June 2005 to Present)
General Dynamics (August 2002 to August 2003)
Sycamore Networks (June 2000 to Dec. 2000)
Lincoln Laboratory (Sept. 1999 to Sept. 2000)

Patents

Packet Scheduling Based on Message Length
AF Invention number: AFB00488
US Statutory Invention Registration No. H2103 H