About the series
CISE Distinguished Lecture
Thursday, May 1st, 2008 at 10:00am, Rm. 110 *
Building a Strong Foundation for the Future Internet
Dr. Jennifer Rexford
Princeton University
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Abstract: The Internet is unquestionably a tremendous success---a research experiment that truly escaped from the lab. However, the Internet faces many technical challenges that, while deeply rooted in early design decisions, have grown even more complex as the network has evolved into a world-wide commercial infrastructure. In this talk, we argue that perhaps the most important goal for a future Internet is the ability to define, model, and analyze it precisely, so we can make stronger statements about its basic properties. Using Internet routing as a driving example, we discuss the research challenges in designing protocols that are simultaneously programmable (so they are flexible and can evolve over time) and perform well in a competitive economic environment (where different parts of the system are controlled by parties with different, sometimes conflicting, objectives). We believe that answering these fundamental questions presents a wonderful opportunity for theoretical research in computer science, electrical engineering, economics, and mathematics.
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Bio: Jennifer joined the Network Systems Group of the Computer Science Department at Princeton University in February 2005 after eight and a half years at AT&T Research. Her research focuses on Internet routing, network measurement, and network management, with the larger goal of making data networks easier to design, understand, and manage. Jennifer is co-author of the book Web Protocols and Practice: HTTP/1.1, Networking Protocols, Caching, and Traffic Measurement (Addison-Wesley, May 2001) and co-editor of She's an Engineer? Princeton Alumnae Reflect (Princeton University, 1993). Jennifer serves as the chair of ACM SIGCOMM, and as a member of the CRA Board of Directors. She received her BSE degree in electrical engineering from Princeton University in 1991, and her MSE and PhD degrees in computer science and electrical engineering from the U. Michigan in 1993 and 1996, respectively. She was the winner of ACM's Grace Murray Hopper Award for outstanding young computer professional of the year for 2004.
* If you would like to arrange a meeting with Dr. Rexford please contact Dawn Patterson (ext. 7097).
