James F. Kurose, named UC3M Honoris Causa doctor

Kurose has been a member of IMDEA Networks Institute's Scientific Council since 2006 and is also a member of its Board of Trustees

02 February 2023

Professor James F. Kurose has been awarded an honorary doctorate by the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) in recognition of his outstanding academic and scientific merits. The investiture ceremony, presided over by Rector Juan Romo, took place on January 31 in the Aula Magna of the Getafe Campus on the occasion of University Day. His laudatio was given by our Deputy Director Albert Banchs.

Jim Kurose has been working in network research for 40 years. He has been a member of IMDEA Networks Institute’s Scientific Council since 2006 and is also a member of its Board of Trustees. Banchs highlighted during his laudatio speech not only his contributions to the scientific community but also to IMDEA Networks and his involvement as a teacher. “Jim accepted the invitation to work with our institute when the initiative was still in its infancy. Thank you for your support, without you IMDEA Networks would be a different reality.” And he concluded: “You are a reference and an inspiration for all of us.”

For his part, Jim Kurose used his speech to thank and congratulate all the doctoral students who graduated that same day and the extraordinary doctoral awards. “It is an honor to receive this recognition from uc3m,” he said.

He especially emphasized how important teaching and mentoring was in motivating students to study engineering. And he talked about how teachers play a key role: “Teaching has always been very important to me. It was thanks to my math teacher that my interest in this branch of science was awakened when I was little. I have always believed that we have an obligation to give to others what has been given to you. To all of you who are going into teaching, I wish you the joy of being a mentor to your students,” he concluded.

James F. Kurose is a Distinguished University Professor in the School of Information and Computer Science at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He has a PhD in Computer Science from Columbia University and a Bachelor’s degree in Physics from Wesleyan University. He has been a visiting scientist at several institutions, such as IBM Research, INRIA, Technicolor, Sorbonne University and the University of Paris.

His lines of research include computer network architecture and protocols, sensor networks and multimedia communication and network measurement, among others. He has received several awards, including the IEEE Infocom Award, the ACM SICOMM Lifetime Achievement Award, the ACM Sigcomm Test of Time Award and the IEEE Computer Society Taylor Booth Education Medal.

In addition, he has been deputy director of the US National Science Foundation and deputy director of Artificial Intelligence in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. He is a member of the IEEE, the ACM and the US National Academy of Engineering.