Joyce Kathleen Reynolds (March 8, 1952 – December 28, 2015) was an American

computer scientist A computer scientist is a person who is trained in the academic study of computer science. Computer scientists typically work on the theoretical side of computation, as opposed to the hardware side on which computer engineers mainly focus (al ...

who played a significant role in developing

protocols Protocol may refer to: Sociology and politics * Protocol (politics), a formal agreement between nation states * Protocol (diplomacy), the etiquette of diplomacy and affairs of state * Etiquette, a code of personal behavior Science and technology ...

underlying the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

. She authored or co-authored many RFCs, most notably those introducing and specifying the

Telnet Telnet is an application protocol used on the Internet or local area network to provide a bidirectional interactive text-oriented communication facility using a virtual terminal connection. User data is interspersed in-band with Telnet control i ...

FTP The File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is a standard communication protocol used for the transfer of computer files from a server to a client on a computer network. FTP is built on a client–server model architecture using separate control and data ...

, and POP protocols.

Career

Reynolds held bachelor's and master's degrees in social sciences from the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

. From 1983 until 1998, she worked with

Jon Postel Jonathan Bruce Postel (; August 6, 1943 – October 16, 1998) was an American computer scientist who made many significant contributions to the development of the Internet, particularly with respect to standards. He is known principally for be ...

to develop early functions of the

Internet Assigned Numbers Authority The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) is a standards organization that oversees global IP address allocation, autonomous system number allocation, root zone management in the Domain Name System (DNS), media types, and other Interne ...

, such as the global allocation of IP addresses, Autonomous System (AS) number allocation, and management of the root zone of the Domain Name System (DNS). After Postel's death in 1998, Reynolds helped supervise the transition of the IANA functions to the

Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN ) is an American multistakeholder group and nonprofit organization responsible for coordinating the maintenance and procedures of several databases related to the namespaces ...

. She worked with ICANN in this role until 2001, while remaining an employee of ISI. From 1987 to 2006, she served on the editorial team of the Request for Comments series, co-leading the RFC Editor function at the ISI from 1998 until 2006. As Area Director of the User Services area, she was a member of the

Internet Engineering Steering Group The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) is a standards organization for the Internet and is responsible for the technical standards that make up the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP). It has no formal membership roster or requirements and a ...

of the

IETF The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) is a standards organization for the Internet and is responsible for the technical standards that make up the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP). It has no formal membership roster or requirements and a ...

from 1990 to March 1998.

Death

Reynolds died due to complications from cancer on December 28, 2015, at the age of 63.

Recognition

With

Bob Braden Robert Braden (28 January 1934 – 15 April 2018) was an American computer scientist who played a role in the development of the Internet. His research interests included end-to-end network protocols, especially in the transport and network laye ...

, she received the 2006

Postel Award The Jonathan B. Postel Service Award is an award named after Jon Postel. The award has been presented most years since 1999 by the Internet Society to "honor a person who has made outstanding contributions in service to the data communications comm ...

in recognition of her services to the Internet. She is mentioned, along with a brief biography, in RFC 1336, ''Who's Who in the Internet'' (1992). Upon her death, former IETF Chairman Brian Carpenter suggested that "What would Joyce have said?" should be a guiding question for the organization.

Selected works

* Reynolds, J. K., Postel, J. B., Katz, A. R., Finn, G. G., & DeSchon, A. L. (1985). The DARPA experimental multimedia mail system. ''Computer'', ''18''(10), 82-89. * Postel, J. B., Finn, G. G., Katz, A. R., & Reynolds, J. K. (1988). An experimental multimedia mail system. ''ACM Transactions on Information Systems (TOIS)'', ''6''(1), 63-81. * Postel, J., & Reynolds, J. K. (1988). RFC1042: Standard for the transmission of IP datagrams over IEEE 802 networks. * Reynolds, J. K. (1989). RFC1135: Helminthiasis of the Internet. * Reynolds, J. K. (1991). The helminthiasis of the Internet. ''Computer networks and ISDN systems'', ''22''(5), 347-361. * Marine, A. N., Reynolds, J. K., & Malkin, G. S. (1994). FYI on Questions and Answers-Answers to Commonly asked" New Internet User" Questions. ''RFC'', ''1594'', 1-44.

References

External links