Congratulations to Alberto Leon-Garcia (ECE), who has been recognized by the University of Toronto with a Distinguished Professor Award. Established in 2009, the Distinguished Professor Award is designed to advance and recognize individuals with highly distinguished accomplishments. Professor Leon-Garcia will hold the title of Distinguished Professor in Application Platforms and Smart Infrastructure for a five-year term.

Professor Leon-Garcia has been a leader in research on the design, operation and management of application-oriented multiservice packet networks. His work on performance and characterization of video, voice and data traffic laid the foundation for understanding the dynamics of integrated traffic flows in switches and networks, a key requirement in providing quality of service in Internet applications. Professor Leon-Garcia is Scientific Director of the NSERC Strategic Network for Smart Applications on Virtual Infrastructures (SAVI), an $8.5M project that investigates the development of an extended computing cloud that encompasses remote datacentres.

In addition to his research achievements, Professor Leon-Garcia is recognized as an innovator in engineering education. He led the development of two industry-oriented programs in network engineering at U of T: the University of Toronto-Northern Telecom Network Engineering Program and the Master of Engineering in Telecommunications program. These programs have educated many of the current generation of Canadian telecom executives. He has also authored two popular textbooks: Probability and Random Processes for Electrical Engineering and Communication Networks: Fundamental Concepts and Key Architecture.

Professor Leon-Garcia is a Fellow of IEEE and the Engineering Institute of Canada. He received the 2006 Thomas Eadie Medal from the Royal Society of Canada and the 2010 IEEE Canada A.G.L. McNaughton Gold Medal for his contributions to the field of communications technology.

“I am delighted that Professor Leon-Garcia’s research accomplishments and contributions to engineering education have been recognized with this prestigious honour,” said Cristina Amon, Dean, Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering. “He exemplifies the qualities of excellence and dedication that the University seeks to encourage with the Distinguished Professor Award.”