CSE faculty-affiliate and alumna Kimberly (KC) Claffy (M.S. ‘91, Ph.D. ‘94) is the 2017 recipient of the prestigious Jonathan B. Postel Service Award. The Internet Society – a global non-profit dedicated to ensuring the open development, evolution and use of the Internet – called Claffy a “visionary in the field of Internet research.”
Claffy was selected by an international award committee comprised of former Postel Award winners. The committee places particular emphasis on candidates who have supported and enabled others in addition to their own contributions. In selecting Claffy for the honor, the committee cited her “pioneering work on Internet measurement through the development of infrastructure and methodologies for data collection, analysis, and sharing around the world.”
The Internet Society presented the award, including a $20,000 honorarium and a crystal engraved globe, on November 10 at the 100th meeting of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), held in Singapore all this week.
Postel Service Award for her "pioneering work on Internet measurement."
(Photo courtesy Stonehouse Photographic/Internet Society)
Claffy is the director and founder (in 1997) of the Center for Applied Internet Data Analysis (CAIDA), and a resident research scientist in the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) where CAIDA is based. Claffy is also a member of the Center for Networked Systems (CNS).
Her research interests span Internet topology, routing, security, economics, future Internet architectures and policy. Notably, Claffy is a pioneer in the field of measuring and understanding the Internet, not only through her research contributions, but her commitment to establishing and operating infrastructure to support large-scale data collection, curation, and sharing within the scientific research community.
Claffy was selected for the Postel Award by an international award committee comprised of former Postel Award winners. The committee placed particular emphasis on candidates who have supported and enabled others in addition to their own contributions.
The first of Claffy’s many papers on Internet traffic measurement and analysis was published in 1992, years before the Internet transitioned to the global, private sector-led network it is today. Since then, she has published dozens of papers and received numerous grants and awards for her work. In 1997, Claffy founded CAIDA as a center to conduct network research and build research infrastructure to handle large-scale data for the scientific research community.
“Simply put, Dr. Claffy’s long-standing and pioneering work has helped the global community better understand the Internet and how it is used,” explained Kathy Brown, President and CEO of the Internet Society, who presented the award. “In addition to leading the way in the field of Internet measurement and analysis itself, her dedication of resources to ensure widespread access to measurement data has allowed a range of disciplines -from network science and network operations to political science and public policy- to benefit from her efforts.”
In a profile of Claffy issued at the time of the award announcement, the scientist told the Internet Society that she hopes the past few decades of Internet development are miniscule when compared to where we are going. “I want to make the world safe for Internet science,” Claffy said. “The American people need better data – to understand what the Internet is, how it’s connected, and how data is being used.”
The Postel Award was established by the Internet Society to honor individuals or organizations that have made outstanding contributions to the data communications community. The award is focused on sustained and substantial technical contributions, service to the community, and leadership.
Jonathan B. Postel Service Award
Profile of KC Claffy
CAIDA
Kimberly Claffy Homepage