IRTF Chair

Responsibilities

The IRTF is managed by the IRTF Chair in consultation with the Internet Research Steering Group (IRSG). The IRTF Chair is appointed by the IAB.

The IRTF Chair is responsible for ensuring that Research Groups produce coherent, coordinated, architecturally consistent and timely output as a contribution to the overall evolution of the Internet architecture. In addition to the detailed tasks related to Research Groups outlined below, the IRTF Chair may also from time to time arrange for topical workshops attended by the IRSG and perhaps other experts in the field.

Planning

The IRTF Chair monitors the range of activities. This may include encouraging the formation of Research Groups directly, rather than waiting for proposals from IRTF participants.

Coordination of Research Groups

The IRTF Chair coordinates the work done by the various Research Groups.

Reporting

The IRTF Chair reports on IRTF progress to the to the IAB and the wider Internet community.

Progress Tracking

The IRTF Chair tracks and manages the progress of the various Research Groups with the aid of a regular status report on documents and accomplishments from the Research Group Chairs.

Anyone interested in creating an IRTF Research Group must submit a charter for the proposed group to the IRTF Chair along with a list of proposed founding members. The formation of a Research Group requires a charter which is initially negotiated between a prospective Research Group Chair and the IRTF Chair. When the prospective Chair and the IRTF Chair are satisfied with the charter form and content, it becomes the basis for forming a Research Group.

Current Chair

Lars Eggert is Technical Director for Networking at NetApp, based in Munich, Germany. In addition, Lars is an Adjunct Professor at Aalto University, Finland’s premier technical university. He pursues his scientific research interests in diverse areas of Internet technology, including architecture, end-to-end protocols, virtualization, measurements and resource scheduling, through collaborative DARPA-, NSF-, and EU-funded research projects with leading universities and research labs. Lars has also been leading the standardization efforts of many related topics as a Steering Group member of the IETF, and he currently chairs the IRTF, the IETF’s research arm. He is a senior member of the ACM and the IEEE, and he serves on the program and organization committees of many academic conferences and workshops, such as ACM SIGCOMM and IEEE Infocom. Lars received his Ph.D. in Computer Science in 2003 from the University of Southern California (USC).

Past Chairs

Dave Clark, 1989–1992

Jon Postel, 1992–1995

Abel Weinrib, 1995–1999

Erik Huizer, 1999–2001

Vern Paxson, 2001–2005

Aaron Falk, 2005–2011