UTD’s Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science and Office of the Vice President for Research and Graduate Education and Telecom are pleased to announce that Professor David J. Farber, currently serving as the Chief Technologist of the Federal Communication Commission, will speak at the First Friday Luncheon of the Technology Business Council on March 2 while in Dallas to visit the Jonsson School. Dr. Farber holds the Alfred Fitler Moore Professorship of Telecommunication Systems in the Moore School of the University of Pennsylvania, and also holds appointments in the Penn’s Wharton and Annenburg Schools.

During his visit, Dr. Farber will also deliver a special seminar on the UTD campus at 3:00 pm March 1 and during his two day visit will meet and confer with UTD faculty and students and, as well, with senior administrators and technologists of Telecom Corridor businesses. On March 2, he will be the featured guest speaker at the “First Friday Luncheon” presented under the auspices of the Telecom Corridor’s Technology Business Council and UTD’s School of Management

According to Dr. William Osborne, Dean of the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science, “The visit of David Farber to campus and the Telecom Corridor is very exciting. The Jonsson School’s research and education activities in the area of telecommunications are growing rapidly, and the insight and advice of such a renowned authority in computer science and telecommunication will be invaluable in helping us optimize this growth.”

“We are delighted to have a universally recognized leader in the worlds of telecommunication and the internet come to visit UTD,” said Dr. Da Hsuan Feng, Vice President for Research and Graduate Education. “I have worked with Dave for nearly five years now, and his reputation is certainly justified by his intellectual depth and breadth.”

Dr. Hasan Pirkul, dean of the UTD School of Management, agrees. “We are very fortunate to have the opportunity to hear Dr. Farber’s unique perspective on this pioneering work and continuing role in the future of the Internet. These are topics that keep our School at the cutting edge of the developments in the new economy.”

David J. Farber was appointed in 1998 by Vice President Gore to serve on the U.S. Presidential Advisory Committee on Information Technology, by Congressman Curt Weldon, Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee Subcommittee on Military Research and Development to chair the H.U.B.S. (hospitals, universities, businesses and schools, a Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey and Pennsylvania information technology tele-collaborative project) advisory council and a critical witness in the landmark Microsoft antitrust case and named by the prestigious journal Network World as the most powerful 25.

He was responsible for the design of the DCS system, one of the first operational message-based fully distributed operating systems and is one of the authors of the SNOBOL programming language. He had key roles in the creation and implementation of NSFNet and BITNET II and was instrumental in the creation of the NSF/DARPA funded Gigabit Network Testbed Initiative, serving as the Chairman of the Gigabit Testbed Coordinating Committee.

He is a Fellow of the IEEE and serves on the Boards of Directors of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Internet Society. He served for ten years on the Computer Science and Telecommunications Board (CSTB) of the US National Research Council.and is the Founder and Editor of the influential network newspaper “Interesting People”, which has a readership of over 20,000. He serves on many industrial Advisory Boards, such as AT&T and Torrent. He also holds an honorary Doctor of Science and is a member of the Board of Trustees of Stevens Institute of Technology of Hoboken, New Jersey.

“Unquestionably, David Farber’s significant pioneering work in telecommunications and his vision for electronic communication in the future will have a major impact on the 21st century world. It is therefore fitting that in this new millennium he is visiting our outstanding complex of telecommunications research, development and business here in Richardson. Having someone with the stature of Dave Farber visiting the Telecom Corridor community is absolutely timely,” said Ron Robinson, President and CEO of Richardson Chamber Commerce. “His insights and inspiration will add still more to the synergy that is a hallmark of the Telecom Corridor.”

The University of Texas at Dallas, located at the convergence of Richardson, Plano and Dallas in the heart of the complex of major multinational technology corporations known as the Telecom Corridor, enrolls approximately 6500 undergraduate and 4500 graduate students. UTD faculty members have an established tradition of scholarly achievement and extra-mural research funding and its freshman class annually stands at the forefront of Texas state universities in terms of average SAT scores. The university offers strong bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees through each its six large schools, Arts and Humanities, The Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science, Human Development, Management, Natural Sciences and Mathematics, and Social Sciences. This comprehensive breadth is complemented by an historical and authorized focus on engineering, management, and science.

Contacts:

Mary Caspari
Office of the Vice President for Research and Graduate Education
The University of Texas at Dallas
972-883-4566
mcaspari@utdallas.edu

Diane S. McNulty, Ph.D.
Associate Dean for External Affair/Corporate Development
School of Management
Dmcnulty@utdallas.edu

Eva Demarest
Executive Assistant to the President
Richardson Chamber of Commerce
Phone: 972-234-4141
Fax: 972-680-9103
http://www.telecomcorridor.com

Mark Richardson
Information and Technology System
Science Applications International Corporation
Plano, Texas
972-943-9030 X2234
mark.e.richardson@saic.com