By M. Abraham
The Academy is an international learned society with a dual function: To elect members of exceptional achievement from science, mathematics, humanities, social science, business, public affairs and the arts. And second, to work on projects and studies that address current issues in society.
This year, the academy elected 203 fellows and 24 foreign associates. Some of Estrin’s 2007 classmates include former Vice President Al Gore; Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor; filmmaker Spike Lee; sculptor Lee Bontecou; New York mayor and businessman Michael Bloomberg; Google Chairman and CEO Eric Schmidt; Pixar chief creative officer John Lasseter and Chef Alice Waters.
Estrin’s research is the development of massive, widely distributed networks using wireless sensors and other devices embedded throughout many different natural environments. These networks give real-time detailed reports on phenomena such as plankton colonies, soil and air contaminants, seismic events as well as structures and systems in the man-made environment, such as bridges and buildings.
Estrin has been a professor of computer science with a joint appointment in electrical engineering at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science since 2000. She holds the Jon Postel Chair in Computer Networks and is the founding director of the Center for Embedded Network Sensing, a National Science Foundation Science and Technology Center.
Earlier this year, Estrin was honored with the distinguished 2007 Women of Vision Award for Innovation given by the Anita Borg Institute. She also previously garnered a National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator award for her research in network interconnection and security. She earned her Ph.D. and M.S. in electrical engineering and computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and her B.S. in electrical engineering and computer science from the University of California, Berkeley.
Estrin also is a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). She has been an advisor to more than 30 Ph.D. recipients.
In addition to Estrin, other members of the American Academy from UCLA Engineering include electrical engineering professor Henry Samueli, the co-founder, chairman and chief technology officer of Broadcom Corporation, elected in 2004; computer science and engineering professor Leonard Kleinrock, elected in 2003; and Alan C. Kay, adjunct professor of computer science and engineering, elected in 1994.
Five other faculty members from across the UCLA campus also were elected to the American Academy this year – Joan Selverstone Valentine, professor of chemistry and biochemistry; Edward L. Wright, professor of astronomy; Terence Parsons, professor of philosophy and linguistics; Michael J. Colacurcio, professor of English; and Debora Shuger, professor of English.
Visit Deborah Estrin’s faculty page here: http://research.cens.ucla.edu/people/estrin/
Visit CENS here: http://research.cens.ucla.edu/