Distinguished Faculty Lecture Series: Ramesh Sitaraman, Keeping the World Connected: Building a Faster, Smarter, and Greener Internet
Content
Keeping the World Connected: Building a Faster, Smarter, and Greener Internet
Speaker: Distinguished Professor and Associate Dean of Educational Programs and Teaching Ramesh Sitaraman
Abstract: Today, the internet is an essential part of daily life—a platform for communication, commerce, education, and innovation. But at the turn of the century, the internet was far from reliable: It was a fragile patchwork of disconnected networks, plagued by frequent failures and poor performance. In this talk, Professor Sitaraman will share his 25-year journey of how his research helped transform that early internet into the fast, resilient, and globally accessible infrastructure we depend on today. His work made it possible for web pages to load quickly and videos to stream smoothly—even in the most remote corners of the world. During times of global crisis, such as 9/11 and the COVID-19 pandemic, his research enabled the internet to handle unprecedented surges in traffic, keeping the world connected. Now, as artificial intelligence (AI) reshapes the digital landscape, we face a new research challenge: delivering AI-enabled intelligent services over the internet to billions of people worldwide while grappling with the rising energy demands of massive AI data centers. The next chapter of his work is focused on building a more sustainable internet—one that’s not only faster and smarter but also powered by clean, renewable energy.
Established in 1974, the annual Distinguished Faculty Lecture is dedicated to acknowledging the work of our most esteemed and accomplished faculty members. The lecture series not only honors individual faculty members and their achievements, but also celebrates the values of academic excellence that we share as a community. Each honoree is presented with the Chancellor’s Medal, the highest recognition bestowed upon faculty by the campus.