Computer Science Professors Varghese and Zhang Inducted into Internet Hall of Fame
The honor, which was announced on Tuesday by the nonprofit Internet Society, “recognizes individuals worldwide who have played an extraordinary role in the conceptualization, building, and development of the global Internet and recognizes those who have made crucial, behind-the-scenes contributions.”
George Varghese, Chancellor’s Professor of Computer Science, was recognized for “making significant contributions to the usability of the Internet by inventing algorithms that increase its speed.” He was also cited for authoring the textbook “Network Algorithmics: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Designing Fast Networked Devices” that has had a wide influence on thinking about how hardware, operating systems and algorithms all work in concert to address data movement across the internet.
Lixia Zhang, UCLA’s Jonathan B. Postel Professor of Computer Systems, was recognized for her “design of the highly influential Resource Reservation Protocol (RSVP), which has served as the foundation of Internet Traffic Engineering by most major network operators, has helped enable the effective management and growth of the Internet’s backbone networks for over two decades.” Zhang has also been an early proponent of named data networking, which retools the internet’s architecture to emphasize data and applications, rather than IP addresses. She leads a major research project in that area.
The two newest members join several others with UCLA connections in the hall of fame, including faculty members Leonard Kleinrock, distinguished professor of computer science; Van Jacobson, adjunct professor of computer science; and alumni Paul Baran (posthumously), Kilnam Chon, Vint Cerf, Steve Crocker, Susan Estrada, Dan Lynch, and Jon Postel (posthumously).