Suman Banerjee and Deepak Ganesan join IMDEA Networks as international Visiting Professors

They have also been appointed Chairs of Excellence UC3M-Banco Santander. Both US-based scholars will be deeply engaged in the life of the Institute, while enhancing its research potential

25 January 2019

IMDEA Networks welcomes Suman Banerjee and Deepak Ganesan as new visiting professors. Suman and Deepak are two of the world’s most renown wireless communications experts and it is an honor to have them join the Institute. They have both simultaneously been appointed to the eminent role of Chair of Excellence University Carlos III of Madrid-Banco Santander. To date, 12 double appointees have come to IMDEA Networks through that program.

Suman and Deepak will be working closely with the IMDEA Networks’ team of as well as with researchers from the Telematics Department at UC3M in a variety of topics related to wireless communications, vehicular networking, mobile systems, edge computing, sensor networks, wearable computing and e-Health.

Suman Banerjee received his PhD in Computer Science from the University of Maryland in 2003 and went on to join the faculty of University of Wisconsin-Madison, both in the USA. His early career achievements in the field of mobile computing and wireless networking granted him the 2013 ACM SIGMOBILE Rockstar Award. He served as chair of ACM SIGMOBILE, the flagship conference of the ACM’s Special Interest Group on Mobility of Systems, Users, Data and Computing, between 2013 and 2017..

Deepak Ganesan received his PhD in Computer Science from UCLA in 2004 and is now a Professor in the Department of Computer Science at UMASS Amherst (USA). He received the IBM Faculty Award in 2008 and that same year was selected as a UMass Junior Faculty Fellow, going on to become a UMass Lilly Teaching Fellow in 2009. His recent scientific work has been recognized by a Best Paper Runner-up Award at MobiCom 2014, a Best Paper Award at CHI 2013, and two honorable mentions at Ubicomp 2013.

Both Suman and Deepak are proud recipients of the US National Science Foundation (NSF) Career Award. Suman received it in 2008 for his research on client-assisted management in wireless networks; Deepak was awarded in 2006 for addressing data and energy management challenges in hierarchical sensor networks. They both closed 2018 with another major international recognition to their achievements in today’s technological landscape, having been named 2018 ACM Distinguished Members For Outstanding Scientific Contributions to Computing.

Arturo Azcorra, director of IMDEA Networks and Professor of Telematics at UC3M, said: “The Visiting Researcher program at IMDEA Networks is a key aspect of our strategy to establish enduring collaborative connections and relationships around the world. For a decade now it has been in sync with the Chairs of Excellence UC3M-Banco Santander program, thanks to which twelve grantees so far have held a double appointment with IMDEA Networks during their stay in Madrid.  We will enjoy the privilege of collaborating at close quarters with these highly innovative and influential scholars, who are sure to delineate some exciting research paths.”