Princeton electrical engineer Mung Chiang has been named one of the world's top 35 innovators under the age of 35 by Technology Review magazine.
The magazine gives its TR35 awards annually to "young innovators for accomplishments that are poised to have a dramatic impact on the world as we know it." Chiang, an assistant professor, was honored for his work to optimize broadband access networks and the Internet.
"Mung's work on long-standing networking problems is both theoretically deep and practically relevant -- a relatively rare combination in the field," said Dean of Engineering H. Vincent Poor, an authority on wireless communications. "His fundamental insights are improving technology today and heralding the development of enhanced communication networks for the future."
In collaboration with colleagues in industry and academia, Chiang and his research group have developed ways to double the transmission rates of the digital subscriber line (DSL) system and greatly increase the quality of wireless cellular service. Additionally, his work has implications for enhancing the efficiency of Internet traffic routing and enabling service providers to plan cost-effective, multi-year rollouts of large networks. Many of these ideas are now being deployed by major companies, including AT&T, Qualcomm Flarion Technologies, Alcatel-Lucent and Marvell Semiconductors.
"Mung has brought advanced ideas from optimization to bear on many aspects of networking, including work to span 'the last mile' and bring information into users' homes," said Peter Ramadge, chair of electrical engineering. "He has fantastic ideas about how to make networks like DSL even better and has been collaborating with industry since day one."
A member of the University faculty since 2003, Chiang was named the recipient of an Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Program award earlier this year and chosen by the Mathematical Programming Society as one of the top three young researchers in continuous optimization from 2004 to 2007. His other previous honors include a National Science Foundation CAREER Award and the University's Howard B. Wentz Junior Faculty Award.
