Professor named IEEE fellow
Professor named IEEE fellow
David Mills, professor of electrical and computer engineering and of computer and information sciences, was named a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) effective Jan. 1.
Mills was recognized for his contributions to network protocols and network timekeeping in the development of the Internet.
The designation of fellow is conferred by IEEE's board of directors upon individuals with extraordinary records of accomplishments in IEEE fields of interest. A citation is issued to new fellows describing their accomplishments, and the total number selected in any one year does not exceed one-tenth percent of the total voting membership. This year, 258 new fellows were named.
"Prof. Mills has made substantial contributions to Internet technology, and this recognition is richly deserved," Eric Kaler, dean of the College of Engineering, said.
Mills joined UD in 1986. He leads projects in high-speed networks, internetworking protocols and network security research sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Jet Propulsion Laboratories (JPL), the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Army.
For many years, he has been an active contributor to the field of computer network time synchronization. Protocols he developed, prototyped and deployed have evolved to the Network Time Protocol, which is now in use throughout the Internet, including the National Institute of Science and Technology and the U.S. Naval Observatory, as well as their counterparts in many other countries of the world.
Before joining UD, Mills was a director and senior research scientist with M/A-COM Linkabit Inc. and COMSAT Laboratories. He was the adviser and principal architect for the NSFNET Phase I backbone network, which interconnected six supercomputer sites during the period 1986-88 and later evolved into the present Internet national backbone. Before that, he was an assistant professor of computer science at the University of Maryland and a lecturer in computer science at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland.
He has designed and taught many tutorials and continuing education courses on internetworking, data communications, minicomputers, systems architecture, microprocessors and distributed computer networks for several universities, professional societies and meetings in North America, Europe and the Pacific since 1966. He served as consultant to the United Nations Development Program in India and the AT&T Network Architecture Advisory Panel.
Mills holds bachelor's degrees in engineering science and in engineering mathematics, master's degrees in electrical engineering and communication sciences and a doctorate in computer and communication sciences, all from the University of Michigan.
