UC Davis Honors Prof Who Pioneered Research in Optical, Wireless Networks

A pioneering veteran educator in the computer sciences has won the UC Davis Academic Senate’s highest honor, the Faculty Distinguished Research Award.

Dr. Biswanath Mukherjee is internationally renowned for his research and leadership in optical networking, which is described as a form of communication that uses signals encoded into light to transmit information among various nodes of a telecommunications network.

In the announcement about Mukherjee’s award, UC Davis says: “In his laboratory at UC Davis, Mukherjee developed the concepts of anomaly detection and misuse characterization in network intrusion detection. He had the vision to design and demonstrate the first prototype of a ‘firewall’ to protect a data network. Today, firewalls are ubiquitous." 

The announcement continues: “More recently, Mukherjee was the first to recognize the importance of seamless integration of optical and wireless networks, now being realized in 5G networking technology. According to Google Scholar, he is the most cited person on the topic of optical networks. His contributions have changed the landscape of networks and network security.” 

Mukherjee was a graduate student at the University of Washington, where he was awarded his doctorate in electrical engineering for his research into optical and high-speed networks. Since 2005, Mukherjee has been a Child Family Endowed Chair Professor at UC Davis.

He will deliver a lecture on computer networking from noon to 1 p.m. Tuesday, June 4, in Ballroom B at the UC Davis Activities and Recreation Center. The program is free and open to the public. More information about Mukherjee and the other award winners is available through the UC Davis website.