About ACM Paris Kanellakis Theory and Practice Award

Scott Shenker was honored for pioneering contributions to fair queueing in packet-switching networks, which had a major impact on modern practice in computer communication. Shenker’s work was fundamental to helping the internet grow from a tool used by a small community of researchers, to a staple of daily life that is used by billions of people. Since the internet was introduced, demand has grown for the ability of computer networks to transmit voice and data simultaneously. Traditionally, this was a challenge, as early networks were not designed to offer integrated services. Shenker was the first to develop the first practical fair queueing algorithm for packet-switching networks, which provided equitable access to transmission bandwidth for different grades of service quality. Many of the commercial routers that make up the internet today use Shenker’s algorithms.

Shenker also developed a mathematical tool for rigorous network research, and introduced ideas for implementing “guaranteed” real-time services such as voice, video streaming and multicasts. Recently, Shenker has been involved in positing how to redesign the internet from the ground up. Software-defined networking (SDN) and software-defined internet architecture (SDIA) are key ideas he developed as part of these inquiries. Researchers consider SDN and SDIA invaluable concepts for mapping out how to most effectively maintain and expand the internet in the coming years.

The ACM Paris Kanellakis Theory and Practice Award honors specific theoretical accomplishments that have had a significant and demonstrable effect on the practice of computing. This award is accompanied by a prize of $10,000 and is endowed by contributions from the Kanellakis family, with additional financial support provided by ACM's Special Interest Groups on Algorithms and Computation Theory (SIGACT), Design Automation (SIGDA), Management of Data (SIGMOD), and Programming Languages (SIGPLAN), the ACM SIG Projects Fund, and individual contributions.