Henning G. Schulzrinne

Henning G. Schulzrinne

Julian Clarence Levi Professor of Mathematical Methods and Computer Science; Professor of Electrical Engineering

Henning Schulzrinne architects, designs, models, and evaluates Internet protocols and applications, with a particular focus on real-time and embedded applications.

He has been working on voice-over-Internet protocols that now power voice communications for modern mobile phones, enterprise, consumer, and public safety applications. 

From 2010 through 2019, he advised the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC), including in his former role as FCC Chief Technologist, on public safety, enabling communications for people with disabilities, the Open Internet, cybersecurity, network measurements, and preventing robocalling. From 2019 to 2020, he served as a Technology Fellow in the office of Senator Ron Wyden, advancing efforts to protect data against illegal searches, improving broadband availability for rural and low-income households, and preventing identity theft. Since December 2022, he has acted as Broadband Advisor to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), working on broadband deployment for rural and low-income areas.

Schulzrinne and his team have developed the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), the Real-Time Transport Protocol (RTP), and other multimedia signaling and support protocols that are used in the 3GPP, CableLabs, NENA NG911 (for emergency calls) and other system standards to support VoIP and multimedia streaming applications. Most recently, he has been working on automating the diagnostics of Internet network faults, protecting the electric grid against cyber-attacks, and scaling up the Internet of Things.

Schulzrinne received his undergraduate education at the Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany, his MSEE at the University of Cincinnati, and a PhD in Electrical Engineering from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, in 1992. He is a Fellow of the IEEE and ACM.

Research Areas

  • Security and Privacy
  • Networks and Distributed Systems
  • Cloud Computing
  • Data Privacy
  • Edge Computing
  • Internet of Things (IoT) and Industry 4.0
  • Networked and Distributed Systems
  • Wireless, Embedded & Sensor Systems
  • Cybersecurity
  • Sustainable Computing (Green Computing)
  • Communications
  • Networking
  • Smart Electric Energy (Smart Grids)
  • Electric Vehicles
  • Public Policy
  • Multimedia Systems

Additional information

  • Professional Experience
    • Broadband Advisor, National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), 2022-
    • Technology Fellow, Senator R. Wyden, 2019-2020
    • Chief Technology Officer, Federal Communications Commission (FCC), January 2017– 2019
    • Senior Advisor for Technology, Federal Communications Commission (FCC), September 2016–December 2016.
    • Technology Advisor, Federal Communications Commission (FCC), September 2014–August 2016.
    • Chief Technology Officer, Federal Communications Commission (FCC), January 2012– August 2014.
    • Engineering Fellow, Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Sept. 2010–May 2011.
    • Professor (tenured), Dept. of Computer Science and Dept. of Electrical Engineering (joint appointment), Columbia University. August 1996–.
    • Department Vice Chair, 2002– 2003;
    • Department Chair, 2004–2009.
    • Researcher & Deputy Department Head, GMD Fokus (now Fraunhofer), Berlin, Germany. March 1994 - July 1996.
    • Lecturer at Technical University Berlin. Consultant, 1994-1996
    • Teaching Assistant, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Massachusetts, January 1992 – June 1992.
    • Research Assistant, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Massachusetts, July 1988 – September 1992.
    • Research Assistant, Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, January 1988 – July 1988.
    • Teaching Assistant, Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, September 1987 – July 1988.
  • Professional Affiliations
    • IEEE
    • Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
  • Honors & Awards
    • ACM SIGCOMM Award for Lifetime Contributions, 2022
    • Honorary Doctorate, University of Oulu, Finland (June 2022)
    • IEEE CQR (Communication Quality and Reliability) Chairman’s Award 2019
    • IEEE Infocom 2018 Test of Time Paper Award for “An Analysis of the Skype Peer-to- Peer Internet Telephony Protocol” (with Salman Baset).
    • IEEE Internet award, 2016.
    • ACM Fellow, 2015.
    • WCNC 2015, “Intelligent Content Delivery over Wireless via SDN”, best paper award.
    • IEEE Communications Society Internet Technical Committee Distinguished Service Award, 2014.
    • Internet Hall of Fame, 2013
    • GREE 2013 best paper award (“Wimax in the classroom: Designing a cellular networking hands-on lab”)
    • 2011 Internet2 IDEA Award winner for ”Do You See What I See” tool (Kyung Hwa Kim, PhD Student)
    • Region 1 William Terry Award for Lifetime Distinguished Service to IEEE Region 1 (2010)
    • IPTComm 2010 best paper award (“Reliability and Relay Selection in Peer-to-Peer Communication Systems”)
    • IMSAA-08 3rd best paper award for A New SIP Event Package For Group Membership Management in Advanced Communications
    • VDE ITG Preis 2008 for Ubiquitous Device Personalization and Use: The Next Generation of IP Multimedia Communications
    • CATT lifetime innovation award (Brooklyn Polytech University) (2007)
    • Sputnik Innovator Award (2005)
    • IEEE Fellow (2005)
    • IEEE ComSoc Technical Committee on Computer Communications (TCCC) Outstanding Service Award 2005
    • Internet Telephony 2004 Product of the Year
    • Mayor’s Award for Excellence in Science and Technology (2004)
    • VON Pioneer Award, 2000
  • Education
    • PhD, Electrical Engineering, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
    • MS, Electrical Engineering, University of Cincinnati
    • BS, Electrical Engineering and Economics, TU Darmstadt (Germany)