Alumnus Tassiulas Wins 2016 IEEE Kobayashi Award

Leandros Tassiulas (Ph.D. EE ‘91) has been named the recipient of the 2016 IEEE Koji Kobayashi Computers and Communications Award for his “contributions to the scheduling and stability analysis of networks.” Tassiulas is the John C. Malone Professor of Electrical Engineering at Yale University; prior to Yale he was a professor at the Polytechnic University in New York, University of Thessaly in Greece and the University of Maryland. At UMD, Tassiulas was advised by Professor Anthony Ephremides.

Tassiulas has revolutionized how scheduling and stability analysis are performed in communications networks, providing dynamic resource allocation tools to improve performance of wireless networks and Internet switches. Developing control algorithms based on a sound mathematical foundation as an alternative to heuristic approaches, Tassiulas introduced the Max-Weight scheduling algorithm for achieving maximum throughput in systems with conflicting resources as well as the Backpressure routing algorithm for end-to-end traffic forwarding. His Maximum Connected Queue algorithm introduced the concept of opportunistic scheduling that became part of most wireless standards since 3G. Together, these three algorithms provide the basis for cross-layer network design in today’s wireless networks.

The IEEE Koji Kobayashi Computers and Communications Award was established by the IEEE Board of Directors in 1986 for outstanding contributions to the integration of computers and communications. The award is named in honor of Dr. Koji Kobayashi, who has been a leading force in advancing the integrated use of computers and communications. The award consists of a bronze medal, certificate and honorarium.

Published April 12, 2016