SIGCOMM Award Recipients

The annual SIGCOMM Award, presented at the SIGCOMM Technical Conference, recognizes lifetime contributions to the field of communication networks. Award winners receive an honorarium of US$ 2,000, free registration to the conference, and a crystal trophy.

The past recipients are:

2024: K.K. Ramakrishnan

For pioneering, sustained contributions in the research, design and standardization of network congestion control and avoidance protocols, virtual private networks, operating systems support for networking, and carrier-grade voice over IP.

Committee: Lixin Gao (UMass, Amherst, Chair), Dan Rubenstein (Columbia University), Peter Steenkiste (CMU), Geoff Volker (UCSD).

2023: Dina Katabi

For contributions to the design, control, and innovative uses of wireless and networked systems.

2022: Deborah Estrin and Henning Schulzrinne

The award to Deborah Estrin is for visionary contributions from protocols, to applications in participatory sensing and mobile health. The award to Henning Schulzrinne is for impactful and sustained contributions to the design of protocols, applications, and algorithms for Internet multimedia.

2021: Hari Balakrishnan,

For contributions to mobile and wireless systems, resilient networks, and congestion control.

Committee: Marinho Barcellos (University of Waikato, NZ), Phillipa Gill (Google, USA), Anja Feldmann (Max-Planck Institute, Germany), and Craig Partridge (Colorado State University, USA, chair).

2020: Amin Vahdat,

For groundbreaking contributions to data center and wide area networks.

Committee: Bruce Davie (VMWare), Craig Partridge (Colorado State University, chair), and Karen Sollins (MIT).

2020: Lixia Zhang,

For pioneering work in Internet protocol development.

Committee: Bruce Davie (VMWare), Craig Partridge (Colorado State University, chair), and Karen Sollins (MIT).

2019: Mark Handley,

For fundamental contributions to Internet multimedia, multicast, congestion control, and multi-path networks, and the standardization of Internet protocols in these domains.

Commitee: Anja Feldman (MPI), Ellen Zegura (Georgia Tech), Hari Balakrishnann (MIT), Srinivasan Keshav (University of Waterloo), and Sujata Banerjee (VMWare, chair)

2018: Jennifer Rexford,

For her fundamental and practical contributions to making the Internet more reliable and predictable, and for her outstanding mentoring and community service.

Commitee: Bruce Davie (VMware), Albert Greenberg (Microsoft), Nick McKeown (Stanford University, chair), Nina Taft (Google), Don Towsley (University of Massachusetts Amherst)

2017:  Raj Jain,

For life-long contributions to computer networking including traffic management, congestion control, and performance analysis.

Commitee: Bruce Davie (VMware), Albert Greenberg (Microsoft), Nick McKeown (Stanford University, chair), Radia Perlman (Dell EMC), Don Towsley (University of Massachusetts Amherst)

2016:   Jim Kurose,

For his sustained excellence in networking research, education, mentoring, and service to the SIGCOMM community.

Committee: Bobby Bhattacharjee (University of Maryland), Bruce Davie (VMware), Peter Druschel (Max Planck Institute for Software Systems), Anja Feldmann (TU Berlin)

2015:   Albert Greenberg,

For pioneering the theory and practice of operating carrier and datacenter networks.

Committee: Hari Balakrishnan (MIT, chair), Bruce Davie (VMware), Ion Stoica (University California Berkeley)

2014:   George Varghese,

For sustained and diverse contributions to network algorithmics, with far reaching impact in both research and industry. The slides for his keynote on interdisciplinary thinking are available.

2013:   Larry Peterson,

For ground-breaking advances in how networking and distributed systems research is conducted, and major contributions to education.

2012: Nick McKeown,

For contributions to the design, analysis, and engineering of high-performance routers, resulting in a major impact on the global Internet. The slides and video for his keynote are available.

2011: Vern Paxson,

For his seminal contributions to the fields of Internet measurement and Internet security, and for distinguished leadership and service to the Internet community.

2010: Radia Perlman,

For her fundamental contributions to the Internet routing and bridging protocols that we all use and take for granted every day.

2009:  Jon Crowcroft,

For his pioneering contributions to multimedia and group communications, for his endless enthusiasm and energy, for all of the creative ideas he has so freely shared with so many in the networking community, and for always being outside the box.

2008: Don Towsley,

For his contributions to the modeling, analysis, and control of communication networks.
The slides for his keynote address are available.

2007: Sally Floyd,

For her far-reaching contributions to Internet architecture and her work in identifying practical ways to control and stabilize Internet congestion.

2006: Domenico Ferrari,

The award to Domenico Ferrari is in recognition of fundamental contributions to Internet QoS architecture and wide-area network research testbeds, his leadership in managing the BSD Unix project, his leadership in founding and establishing ICSI as a premier international networking research institution, and his dedication to educate the next generation of leaders in networking research.

2005: Paul Mockapetris,

The award to Paul Mockapetris is in recognition of his foundational work in designing, developing and deploying the Domain Name System, and his sustained leadership in overall Internet architecture development.

2004: Simon Lam,

The award to Simon Lam is in recognition of his vision, breadth, and rigor in contributing to, among other areas: secure network communication, the analysis of network and multiaccess protocols, the analysis of queueing networks, and the design of mechanisms for quality of service. The slides for his keynote address are available, as is a picture of his award.

2003: David Cheriton,

For his contributions in data networking and systems, and for his keen talent for questioning the assumptions behind all our work. The slides for his keynote address may be found here.

2002: Scott Shenker,

The award to Scott Shenker is in recognition of his contributions to Internet design and architecture, to fostering research collaboration, and as a role model for commitment and intellectual rigor in networking research.

2001: Van Jacobson,

The award to Van Jacobson is for contributions to protocol architecture and congestion control.

A PDF version of Van's talk is available.

2000: Andre Danthine,

The award to Andre Danthine is for basic contributions to protocol design & modelling and for leadership in the development of computer networking in Europe.

1999: Peter Kirstein,

The award to Peter Kirstein is for "Contributions to the practical understanding of large-scale networks through the deployment of international testbeds". A copy of Dr. Kirstein's keynote address presentation slides is here.

1998: Dr. Larry Roberts,

The award to Dr. Roberts is for "Visionary Contributions and Advanced Technology Development of Computer Communication Networks".  A copy of Dr. Roberts keynote address presentation slides is here.

1997: Jon Postel and Louis Pouzin,

The award to Jonathan Postel is "For contributions to Internet development and standardization".   The award to Louis Pouzin is "For pioneering work on connectionless packet communication".  SIGCOMM mourns the death of Jon Postel, the Postel memorial site is sponsored by ISI.

1996: Vint Cerf,

Vinton Cerf's contributions to the Internet span more than 25 years, from development of the fundamental TCP/IP protocols to ambassador for today's worldwide Internet infrastructure.

1995: David J Farber,

for vision and breadth of contributions to and inspiration of others in computer networks, distributed computing, and network infrastructure development.

1994: Paul Green,

for lifetime achievement in the field of data communications, for his outstanding contributions to data communication theory, protocols, architectures, and technology.

1993: Robert Kahn,

for visionary technical contributions and leadership in the development of information systems technology.

1992: Sandy Fraser,

for pioneering concepts, such as virtual circuit switching, space-division packet switching, and window flow control.

1991: Hubert Zimmerman,

for 20 years of leadership in the development of computer networking and the advancement of international standardization.

1990: David D. Clark,

in recognition of his major contributions to internet protocol and architecture.

1990: Leonard Kleinrock,

in recognition of his seminal role in developing methods for analyzing packet network technology.

1989: Paul Baran,

in recognition of his early 1960s conception of packet switching as a foundation for an all-digital, computer-controlled, survivable nation-wide network.