Dr. Thomas Edward Anderson is a distinguished computer scientist and internationally recognized leader in the field of distributed systems and computer networking research. He currently holds the prestigious Warren Francis and Wilma Kolm Bradley Endowed Chair in the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering at the University of Washington where he has been a faculty member since 1997, having previously served as an assistant and associate professor at the University of California, Berkeley from 1991 to 1997. After earning a Bachelor of Arts with a major in philosophy from Harvard University in 1983, he pursued graduate studies at the University of Washington, completing both his Master's and Ph.D. in computer science by 1991. His academic journey has been marked by significant leadership roles including his promotion to Robert E. Dinning Professor in Computer Science at the University of Washington in 2009 and his election to the National Academy of Engineering in 2016 for contributions to resilient and efficient distributed computer systems.
Dr. Anderson's pioneering research has fundamentally advanced the understanding of Internet routing behavior and distributed systems architecture through multiple landmark contributions including his trailblazing work on the NOW project which demonstrated how to build distributed supercomputers using only commodity systems and networks. His Detour routing research revealed that Internet routing is often pathological and that overlay routing can address these problems while his work with Rocketfuel and iPlane produced widely used maps of internet topology that revolutionized network protocol evaluation. As co-founder of PlanetLab, he created a wide area distributed computing platform that transformed experimental network systems research enabling scientists worldwide to test protocols in real world conditions. His research has produced numerous influential tools for identifying and diagnosing route anomalies including Reverse Traceroute which solved the critical problem of identifying router level paths in the reverse direction back to the source.
Beyond his technical contributions Dr. Anderson has been instrumental in shaping the computer systems research community through his service as program chair for SIGCOMM and SOSP two of the most prestigious conferences in his field. His leadership extends to mentoring numerous graduate students and collaborating with researchers globally with his work inspiring generations of computer scientists working on distributed systems and network protocols. Recognized with multiple prestigious awards including the USENIX Lifetime Achievement Award the IEEE Koji Kobayashi Computers and Communications Award and ACM Fellowship his research continues to advance the frontiers of computer systems with current projects focusing on building practical robust and efficient computer systems that can withstand evolving network challenges. His commitment to open research platforms and reproducible science has made significant contributions to the field's methodological rigor ensuring that his influence will continue to be felt as the next generation of computer systems researchers pushes the boundaries of what is possible in distributed computing.
