College Of Engineering Welcomes New Department Head To Campus

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The University of Arkansas College of Engineering is pleased to announce that Dr. Kazem Sohraby has been named as professor and head of the Department of Computer Science & Computer Engineering.

Prior to joining the University, Sohraby was with Bell Laboratories in Holmdel, New Jersey, in advanced communications technologies and mathematical sciences research centers. He pioneered several switching and optical transmission technologies at Bell Labs, and was instrumental in innovative products in signaling and network computing. He has also served as Bell Labs professor of electrical engineering at City College, City University of New York, and as director of an interdisciplinary telecommunications graduate program at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey.

Sohraby’s fields of interest and expertise include computer networking, protocols, signaling, switching, performance analysis and traffic theory. He has more than 20 patents on computer protocols, wireless and optical systems, switching technologies, and optical Internet.

"Dr. Sohraby brings a wealth of academic and industry experience to this position," said Ashok Saxena, dean of Engineering. "His leadership and vision will help to build the Department of Computer Science & Computer Engineering into one of the nation’s leading teaching and research programs."

Sohraby earned the B.S. in electrical engineering from Tehran Polytechnic University, the M.S. in electrical engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and the Ph.D. degree from Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute. He also received graduate education in computer science at the George Washington University, and received the MBA degree from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. He is a Distinguished Lecturer of the Communications Society of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and serves as its President’s representative on the Committee on Communications and Information Policy. Sohraby’s numerous publications include a book on the performance and control of computer networks.

In addition, Sohraby has served on the Education Committee of the IEEE Communications Society and has served as panelist and reviewer with the National Science Foundation, the United States Army, and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

"The inherent synergy between computer engineering and computer science today brings enormous opportunities in advanced interdisciplinary research and academic studies to students in the College of Engineering," Sohraby said. "This synergy helps create and expand platforms for the building blocks of information society and strengthens the foundations of economic progress around the globe."