Hari Balakrishnan

Fujitsu Professor in EECS

Department

Dept of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science

Technology Areas

Communication Systems: Wireless / Sensing & Imaging: Chemical & Radiation Sensing / Computer Science: Cybersecurity, Networking & Signals / Industrial Engineering & Automation: Logistics / Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML)

Impact Areas

Connected World

Background and Experience

Hari Balakrishnan is the Fujitsu Professor of Computer Science at MIT. His research is in networked computer systems, with current interests in networking, sensing, and perception for sensor-equipped mobile devices connected to cloud or edge services. He has made many contributions to mobile and sensor computing, overlay and peer-to-peer networks, congestion control, Internet routing, and data management systems.

Balakrishnan received his PhD in 1998 from the EECS Department at UC Berkeley, which named him a Distinguished Alumnus in 2021, and a BTech in Computer Science in 1993 from IIT Madras, which named him a Distinguished Alumnus in 2013. He has graduated 26 PhD students and 10 postdocs, who have made their mark in research and industry at leading universities and companies.

Awards and Honors

Marconi Prize for "fundamental contributions to mobile sensing, networking, and distributed systems", 2023. MIT News article.
SIGCOMM paper award (starvation in end-to-end congestion control), 2022.
ACM SIGCOMM Award for "lifetime" contributions to mobile and wireless systems, resilient networks, and congestion control, 2021. Mind the App! (keynote talk at SIGCOMM 2021)
IEEE Koji Kobayashi Computers and Communications Award, 2021
UC Berkeley EECS Distinguished Alumnus Award, 2021
Infosys Prize from the Infosys Science Foundation, 2020
American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2017
National Academy of Engineering, 2015
IEEE Fellow, 2020
ACM Fellow, 2008
Sloan Fellow, 2002
SenSys Test of Time Award, 2019
SIGMOBILE Test of Time Award, 2018, 2017
SIGMOD Test of Time Award, 2017
SIGOPS Hall of Fame Award, 2015
SIGCOMM Test of Time Award, 2011
Harold E. Edgerton Faculty Achievement Award for Research and Teaching, MIT, 2003
MIT Teaching Awards: HKN Best Instructor Award (2018), Jamieson Award (2012), Junior Bose (2002), Ruth and Joel Spira (2001)
Distinguished Alumnus, IIT Madras, 2013
SenSys Best Paper Award, 2009
NSDI Best Paper Award, 2005
IEEE Bennett Paper Prize, 2004
MobiCom Best Paper Award, 2006, 2000, 1995
ACM Doctoral Dissertation Award, 1998

Technologies