This award recognizes "lifetime" achievement in and contributions to the field
of data communications. It is awarded annually to a person whose work, over
the course of his or her career, represents a significant contribution to the
field and a substantial influence on the work and perceptions of others in the
field.
The 1995 SIGCOMM Award is presented to David J. Farber, University of
Pennsylvania.
"For vision and breadth of contributions to, and inspiration of others in,
computer networks, distributed computing, and network infrstructure
development."
David Farber was a poineer in token ring networks and distributed computing
with the Distributed Computing System at the University of California, Irvine
in the early 1970s. DCS incorporated a local area network with a distributed
operating system, employing concepts such as message passing, inter-process
communication, process migration, bidding protocols, and load balancing. His
book on distributed office systems, published in the late 1970s, anticipated
capabilities that are just coming into common use today.
In the 1980s, while at the University of Delaware, Professor Farber
contributed to the development of the Computer Science Network (CSNET). He
conceived and developed MMDF, a mail relaying system that formed the basis of
Phonenet, the electronic mail relaying component of CSNET. Phonenet was
critical to the success of CSNET because it enabled small schools to join at a
cost-level they could afford. In addition, Dave had an impact on the
political and economic aspects of CSNET as a member of the CSNET Management
Committee.
In recent years, at the Universy of Pennsylvania, Dave's research has
concentrated on ultra high speed networking and the implications of that on
processor interconnet, protocols and software. He contributed to defining
the gigabit network testbed initiative as a reseach program funded jointly
by govenrment and industry with participation by researchers from
universities, industry and government. He has led several joint research
projects with industrial research laboratories and serves as chair of the
Gigabit Testbed Coordinating Committee.
Furthermore, Dave has an outstanding record of developing people in the
networking research community. Several of Dave's students have had a major
impact on the field. Dave has serves as an advisor to government research and
education communities through his membership on the Computer Science and
Telecommunications Board of the National Research Council. In adition, he has
taken a leading role in studying ethical and societal imparcts of computer and
networking technologies through vehicles such as the Electronic Frontier
Foundation.
In summary, David Farber has demonstrated an ability to recoginze key ideas
five or ten years before their time and them stimulate the work needed to make
these ideas a reality. This award recoginzes the impact of Dave's
contributions as a research leader and in inspiring others to the field of
data communcations.
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