Vinton
G. Cerf
Senior
Vice President, Internet Architecture and Technology
WorldCom
Vinton
G. Cerf is senior vice president of Internet Architecture
and Technology for WorldCom. Cerf's team of architects and
engineers design advanced Internet frameworks for delivering
a combination of data, information, voice and video services
for business and consumer use.
Widely known as a "Father of the Internet," Cerf
is the co-designer of the TCP/IP protocols and the architecture
of the Internet. In December 1997, President Clinton presented
the U.S. National Medal of Technology to Cerf and his partner,
Robert E. Kahn, for founding and developing the Internet.
Prior
to rejoining MCI in 1994, Cerf was vice president of the
Corporation for National Research Initiatives (CNRI). As
vice president of MCI Digital Information Services from
1982-1986, he led the engineering of MCI Mail, the first
commercial email service to be connected to the Internet.
During his tenure from 1976-1982 with the U.S. Department
of Defense's Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA),
Cerf played a key role leading the development of Internet
and Internet-related data packet and security technologies.
Vint Cerf serves as chairman of the board of the Internet
Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). Cerf
served as founding president of the Internet Society from
1992-1995 and in 1999 served a term as chairman of the Board.
He completed his term as founding chairman and continues
to serve as a member of the Internet Societal Task Force
and its steering group that focuses on making the Internet
accessible to everyone and analyzing international, national
and local policies surrounding Internet use. In addition,
Cerf is honorary chairman of the IPv6 Forum, dedicated to
raising awareness and speeding introduction of the new Internet
protocol. Cerf has served as a member of the U.S. Presidential
Information Technology Advisory Committee (PITAC) since
1997. Cerf is a principal for the Global Internet Project
(GIP), and he sits on the Board of Directors for the Endowment
for Excellence in Education, Folger Shakespeare Library,
Gallaudet University, the MCI WorldCom Foundation, Nuance
Corporation, Avanex Corporation, CoSine Corporation, 2BNatural
Corporation, B2B Video Networks, , the Internet Policy Institute
and the Hynomics Corporation. Cerf is a Fellow of the IEEE,
ACM, and American Association for the Advancement of Science,
the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the International
Engineering Consortium, the Computer History Museum and
the National Academy of Engineering.
Cerf is a recipient of numerous awards and commendations
in connection with his work on the Internet. These include
the Marconi Fellowship, the Alexander Graham Bell Award
presented by the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the
Deaf, the NEC Computer and Communications Prize, the Silver
Medal of the International Telecommunications Union, the
IEEE Alexander Graham Bell Medal, the IEEE Koji Kobayashi
Award, the ACM Software and Systems Award, the ACM SIGCOMM
Award, the Computer and Communications Industries Association
Industry Legend Award, the Yuri Rubinsky Web Award, the
Kilby Award , the Yankee Group/Interop/Network World Lifetime
Achievement Award, the George R. Stibitz Award, the Werner
Wolter Award, the IEEE Third Millennium Medal and the Library
of Congress Bicentennial Living Legend medal.
In December, 1994, People magazine identified Cerf as one
of that year's "25 Most Intriguing People."
In addition to his work on behalf of WorldCom and the Internet,
Cerf has served as a technical advisor to production for
"Gene Roddenberry's Earth: Final Conflict.," He
also made a special guest appearance in May 1998. Cerf has
appeared on television programs NextWave with Leonard Nimoy
and on World Business Review with Alexander Haig and Casper
Weinberger. Cerf also holds an appointment as distinguished
visiting scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory where
he is working on the design of an interplanetary Internet.
Cerf holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics from
Stanford University and Master of Science and Ph.D. degrees
in Computer Science from UCLA. He also holds honorary Doctorate
degrees from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology,
Zurich; Lulea University of Technology, Sweden; University
of the Balearic Islands, Palma; Capitol College, Maryland;
Gettysburg College, Pennsylvania; George Mason University,
Virginia; and Rovira i Virgili University, Tarragona, Spain.
His personal interests include fine wine, gourmet cooking
and science fiction. Cerf and his wife, Sigrid, were married
in 1966 and have two sons, David and Bennett.
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