1997 Monie A. Ferst Award
Leonard Kleinrock is a computer scientist at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) who is known as a creator of the Internet. He received his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1963 and is now a professor in the UCLA computer science department. He developed the basic principles of packet switching a decade before the ARPANET was deployed. His current research interests focus on performance evaluation and design of parallel and distributed systems, including the concept of "nomadic computing," which refers to the achievement of continuous access to networks. During his tenure at UCLA, Kleinrock has guided 35 Ph.D. students and 48 M.S. students. These former students now form a core group of the world's most advanced networking experts. Eight are full professors at leading universities, and many are associated with major research firms in the area of communications.