Ramesh Sitaraman Receives 2025 IIT Madras Distinguished Alumnus Award
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Manning College of Information and Computer Sciences (CICS) Associate Dean for Educational Programs and Teaching and Distinguished Professor Ramesh Sitaraman has received a 2025 Distinguished Alumnus Award from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras). This award is the highest given by IIT Madras to its alumni in recognition of their achievements in their respective fields of expertise. He was selected for his extraordinary contributions to computer science and his lasting impact on the global Internet ecosystem utilized daily by billions of people.
Sitaraman graduated from IIT Madras in 1985 with a Bachelor of Technology in electrical engineering. "The Indian Institute of Technology Madras transformed a teenager with no particular aspirations or life skills into an adult devoted to science and discovery," says Sitaraman. "A deep debt of gratitude to an esteemed institution and its teachers that is hard to repay, except by paying it forward."
Sitaraman is renowned for pioneering content delivery networks (CDNs) and edge computing services, notably as principal architect of the Akamai network, the world’s first major CDN and edge computing service. His research spans all aspects of Internet-scale distributed systems, including algorithms, architectures, performance, and energy efficiency. He directs the Laboratory for Internet-Scale Distributed Systems (LIDS) and is a member of the Theoretical Computer Science group. Additionally, Sitaraman is the recipient of the Distinguished Teaching Award (DTA), the university’s highest recognition of teaching.