FCC Names Engineering Prof. Schulzrinne Chief Technology Officer

Columbia Engineering School Professor Henning Schulzrinne has been appointed as Chief Technology Officer by FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski.

"The FCC is engaged in helping bridge the digital divide, increase public safety, protect consumers, and help foster new innovative mobile networks," said Schulzrinne, Julian Clarence Levi Professor of Mathematical Methods and Computer Science; and Professor of Electrical Engineering at Columbia Engineering. "I look forward to participating in these and other activities. I also hope to better connect the engineering community and the FCC, so that we can jointly tackle those important challenges."

"I’m delighted that Henning will be joining us,” said FCC Chairman Genachowski. "The technology revolution is key to our economy and broad opportunity. With the appointment of Henning – a world-class technologist – we extend our commitment to technology excellence at the FCC and to strong engagement with outside technology experts."

As chief technology officer, Schulzrinne will guide the FCC’s work on technology and engineering issues, together with the FCC’s Office of Engineering and Technology. He will advise on matters across the agency to ensure that FCC policies are driving technological innovation, including serving as a resource to FCC Commissioners. Schulzrinne will also help the FCC engage with technology experts outside the agency and promote technical excellence among agency staff. He will be based in the FCC’s Office of Strategic Planning and Policy Analysis.

"We are extremely pleased that Henning has been named to such a prominent post," said Feniosky Peña-Mora, Dean of The Fu Foundation School of Engineering at Columbia University. "Not only has he been a leader for many years in the field of computer science and has had a strong academic impact here at Columbia Engineering, he will now play a major role in helping to effect technology policy for both our nation and the world. He exemplifies Columbia Engineering’s far-reaching faculty and we are honored to have him as a colleague."

Schulzrinne has been an Engineering Fellow at the FCC since 2010. He has published more than 250 journal and conference papers, and more than 77 Internet Requests for Comment (RFCs). He is widely known for the development of key protocols that enable voice-over-IP (VoIP) and other multimedia applications that are now Internet standards, including the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP). His research interests include Internet multimedia systems, applied network engineering, quality of service, and performance evaluation.

Schulzrinne received his undergraduate degree in economics and electrical engineering from the Darmstadt University of Technology, Germany; his M.S.E.E. degree as a Fulbright Scholar from the University of Cincinnati, Ohio; and his Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. He was a member of technical staff at AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, and an associate department head at GMD-Fokus (Berlin), before joining the computer science and electrical engineering departments in 1996 at The Fu Foundation School of Engineering at Columbia University, New York.