The Marconi Society recently awarded Electrical Engineering Prof. John Cioffi a $100,000 cash prize, naming him a 2006 Fellow for his pioneering research in communication technologies and his contributions to the development of modern DSL Internet access.

Upon receiving the prestigious award, Cioffi donated the entire prize to the Department of Electrical Engineering to help finance a research project aimed at advancing Internet capabilities. In addition to Cioffi’s individual contribution, France Telecom, a corporation specializing in communication technologies, has agreed to match his donation.

“It will fund some research that is close to my heart,” Cioffi said. The focus of his research aims to further a new Internet connection known as Dynamic Spectrum Management [DSM] — expected to surpass the capabilities of current DSL technologies. DSM will permit numerous Internet users onto the same bandwidth at the same time and will allow for more information to be transmitted along fewer lines at faster speeds than current servers.

The Marconi Fellowship, which began in 1975, is awarded by the international Marconi Society at Columbia University. The Fellowship was founded, according to the organization, “to enhance the spirit of Guglielmo Marconi — scientist, engineer, inventor, and entrepreneur — his contributions to communications and information, and his determination that such knowledge be directed to the social, economic and cultural improvement of all humanity.”

Bruce Wooley, director of the Electrical Engineering department and a colleague of Cioffi, praised the achievements that led to the Marconi Fellowship and dubbed Cioffi “the father of DSL.”

“John pioneered [DSL] by working with his students,” said Wooley. “He’s had a major influence on the Internet as it is.”

According to Wooley, the major obstacle confronting modem designers and electrical engineers prior to the development of DSL was finding a way to send a large amount of high-speed data over existing phone lines. Cioffi was elected to the National Academy of Engineering for his research in this area. He has also published nearly 300 papers on topics relating to electrical engineering and currently has over 40 licensed patents to his credit.

While Cioffi has made numerous advances in areas of technological research, Wooley insisted that his colleague continues to remain dedicated to teaching and training future electrical engineers and modem designers in his advanced courses. Each quarter he manages to instruct at least one course in electrical engineering in addition to his other research.

“He continues to teach and supervise Ph.D. students much as he has since he came to Stanford in the 1980’s,” Wooley said.

Cioffi first learned that he had won the Marconi Fellowship nearly a year ago, and has still continued with his research trying to discover new and innovative ways for designing Internet modems. Looking back on the innovations that his work has helped create, Cioffi expresses great enthusiasm about furthering Internet technologies.

“Every researcher dreams that their research will become an advance,” he said. “That’s one of the rewards of doing research in our area. That’s what we shoot for.”

The 2006 Marconi Fellowship will be presented at a gala dinner on Oct. 12 at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California.