Muriel Médard (born February 1, 1968) is an

information theorist Information theory is the scientific study of the quantification, storage, and communication of information. The field was originally established by the works of Harry Nyquist and Ralph Hartley, in the 1920s, and Claude Shannon in the 1940s. T ...

and

electrical engineer Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

. She is the Cecil H. Green Professor of Electrical Engineering at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

(MIT) and is known for her research in

network coding In computer networking, linear network coding is a program in which intermediate nodes transmit data from source nodes to sink nodes by means of linear combinations. Linear network coding may be used to improve a network's throughput, efficiency, ...

Education and career

Médard earned a bachelor's degree from MIT in 1989, with a double major in mathematics and electrical engineering. She earned a second bachelor's degree from MIT in 1991, in Russian studies, at the same time earning a master's degree in electrical engineering. She completed her doctorate (Sc.D.) in electrical engineering at MIT, with a minor in management, in 1995. Her dissertation was ''Capacity of Multiple User Time Varying Channels in Wireless Communications'' and was supervised by

Robert G. Gallager Robert Gray Gallager (born May 29, 1931) is an American electrical engineer known for his work on information theory and communications networks. Gallager was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) in 1979 for contributio ...

. After postdoctoral research in the

MIT Lincoln Laboratory The MIT Lincoln Laboratory, located in Lexington, Massachusetts, is a United States Department of Defense federally funded research and development center chartered to apply advanced technology to problems of national security. Research and dev ...

, Médard became an assistant professor at the

University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Universit ...

in 1998. She returned to MIT as a faculty member in 2000. In 2012, Médard served as president of the

IEEE Information Theory Society The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a 501(c)(3) professional association for electronic engineering and electrical engineering (and associated disciplines) with its corporate office in New York City and its operation ...

. She is also the former

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...

of the ''

IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications The ''IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications'' is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the IEEE Communications Society that focuses on telecommunications. The journal was established in 1983 and the editor-in-chief is ...

'', and the co-founder of the companies CodeOn, Steinwurf and Chocolate Cloud.

Recognition

Médard became Cecil H. Green Professor in 2014. She was elected as a Fellow of the

IEEE The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a 501(c)(3) professional association for electronic engineering and electrical engineering (and associated disciplines) with its corporate office in New York City and its operation ...

in 2008 "for contributions to wideband wireless fading channels and network coding." In 2016 she received the IEEE Vehicular Technology James Evans Avant Garde Award. In 2017 she won the Aaron D. Wyner Distinguished Service Award of the

, and the Edwin Howard Armstrong Achievement Award of the

IEEE Communications Society The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a 501(c)(3) professional association for electronic engineering and electrical engineering (and associated disciplines) with its corporate office in New York City and its operation ...

"for pioneering work in the fields of network coding, wireless communications, and optical networking". In 2018 she received an

ACM ACM or A.C.M. may refer to: Aviation * AGM-129 ACM, 1990–2012 USAF cruise missile * Air chief marshal * Air combat manoeuvring or dogfighting * Air cycle machine * Arica Airport (Colombia) (IATA: ACM), in Arica, Amazonas, Colombia Computing * ...

Sigcomm Test of Time Award. She received an honorary doctorate from the

Technical University of Munich The Technical University of Munich (TUM or TU Munich; german: Technische Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It specializes in engineering, technology, medicine, and applied and natural sciences. Establis ...

in 2020. She was elected as a member of the

US National Academy of Engineering The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American Nonprofit organization, nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Engineering is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along ...

in 2020 and as a Fellow of the US National Academy of Inventors in 2018. In 2022, she won the Koji Kobayashi Computers and Communications Award for her work on a universal decoder.

References

External links

The Network Coding and Reliable Communications Group
at MIT * {{DEFAULTSORT:Medard, Muriel 1968 births Living people American information theorists American electrical engineers MIT School of Engineering alumni University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign faculty MIT School of Engineering faculty Fellow Members of the IEEE Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science alumni