Biography

Raouf Boutaba is a University Research Chair Professor and the Director of the David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science at the University of Waterloo, Canada. He previously served as Associate Dean Research (2016-2019) and as founding Associate Dean Innovation and Entrepreneurship (2019) of the Faculty of Mathematics at the University of Waterloo. Dr. Boutaba currently holds an INRIA International Chair in Network Softwarization (2017-2022), and has held several visiting professor positions in the past, including, at the University of Toronto, Canada, the Pohang University of Science and Technology POSTECH, South Korea, Sorbonne Université, the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications Telecom ParisTech, the Université Henry Descartes Paris University, France, the Federal University of Rio do Janeiro (UFRJ), Brazil, and the Université de Bordeux, France. Dr. Boutaba received the Bachelors degree from the Badji Mokhtar Annaba University, Algeria (1988), a M.S. degree from the Université de Pierre et Marie Curie (now Sorbonne Université), France (1990), a Magister degree from Annaba University in collaboration with the University of Glasgow, Scotland (1993), and a Ph.D. degree from the Université de Pierre et Marie Curie Sorbonne University (1994), all in Computer Science.

 

Dr. Boutaba's primary research interests are in the areas of network and service management. His current research projects include, AI-driven 5G network slice management and orchestration, application of machine learning to cybersecurity, network virtualization, network function virtualization, software-defined networks, cloud computing, future Internet architecture, and blockchains. Dr. Boutaba has published more than 500 papers in world leading conferences and journals in these areas, received 15 Best Paper awards, and holds/filed 15 patents. He has served as a distinguished speaker of the IEEE Communications Society (2005-2010) and the IEEE Computer Society (2002-2004), and has given numerous keynote and invited talks in conferences worldwide.

 

Dr. Boutaba is the current Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications and is the founding Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Transactions on Network and Service Management (2007 – 2010). He has been an editor, a member of editorial board, and special issue guest editor of several leading journals in networks and communications, including the IEEE Transactions of Mobile Computing, the IEEE Communications Surveys and Tutorials, Elsevier Computer Networks, Computer Communications, and Vehicular Communications journals, Springer Journal of Network and Systems Management and Journal of Internet Services and Applications, an others. He chairs the steering committees of the flagship IEEE conferences in the areas of network and service management, namely, the IFIP/IEEE International Symposium on Integrated Network and Service Management (IM), IEEE/IFIP Network Operations and Management Symposium (NOMS), and the IEEE/IFIP/ACM International Conference on Network and Service Management (CNSM), and sits in the steering committees of several other conferences, including the IEEE International Conference on Network Softwarization (NetSoft), the IEEE International Conference on Cloud Networking (CloudNet), the IEEE International Conference on Blockchains and Cryptocurrencies (ICBC) among others. Over the years, he served in various capacities in the organizing and technical program committees of a number of conferences, including, INFOCOM, ICDCS, Networking, IM, NOMS, CNSM, NetSoft, ICC, Globecom, CloudNet, and others.

 

Dr. Boutaba is an active member of the IEEE Communications Society and held several offices, notably as Chair of the Publication Committee (2020 – 2022), IEEE Blockchain initiative (2018 – 2020), Lead, IEEE SDN initiative (2018 – 2020), Director of Magazines (2016 – 2017), Director of the Conference Publications Board (2008 – 2010), Director of the Society Relations Board (2006 – 2007), and First Director of the Standards Board (2005 – 2006), among others. He was elected in leadership positions of several technical committees of the IEEE Communications Society, including, the Technical Committee on Information Infrastructure (Program Chair: 2002-2003; Vice Chair: 2004-2005; and Chair: 2006 – 2009); The Technical Committee on Autonomic Communications as the founding Chair in 2006. He is also active at the local level as the Chair of the Kitchener-Waterloo region IEEE Communications Chapter since 2000 and past Chair of the Kitchener-Waterloo region IEEE Computer, Information Theory and Vehicular Technology Chapters. Dr. Boutaba also contributes to the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP). He served as the Chair of the Working Group 6.6 on Network and Distributed Systems Management (2001 – 2007) and currently serves as an Expert member of the IFIP Technical Committee 6 on Communication Systems. He also serves as the Canadian National Delegate to the IFIP Technical Committee on Communications Systems since 2012.

 

Dr. Boutaba has received numerous international, national, and university recognitions for his scholarly contributions and service to the scientific community. In recognition of his pioneering contributions to network management and network virtualization, he has been named a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (2019), a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering (2015), a Fellow of the Engineering Institute of Canada (2013), and a Fellow of the IEEE (2012). He is also the recipient of the 2014 McNaughton Gold Medal, IEEE Canada’s highest honor awarded to outstanding Canadian engineers, the 2016 IEEE Communications Society Technical Achievement Award for incredible contribution in the field of data communication infrastructure and network management, and the 2009 Dan Stokesberry Award recognizing an individual who has made a particularly distinguished technical contribution to the growth of the network management field. Dr. Boutaba received the Premier’s Research Excellence Award (Ontario) in 2000, the Discovery Accelerator Award from the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) in 2009 and the Department of National Defence DND/NSERC Discovery Award in 2019. His research has been also recognized by industry frontiers such as IBM, Google, Cisco, and Nortel through several faculty and research excellence awards. Dr. Boutaba’s service to the scientific community has been recognized through several prestigious awards, including, the IFIP Silver Core (2007), the IEEE Communications Society Harold Sobol Award (2007), the IEEE Communications Society Joseph LoCicero Publications Award (2009), the IEEE Communications Society Salah Aidarous Award (2012), and the IEEE Communications Society Donald W. McLellan Meritorious Service Award (2016). For his outstanding achievements in teaching and scholarship at the University of waterloo, Dr. Boutaba received the Faculty of Mathematics Fellowship (2003 – 2005), the David R. Cheriton Faculty Fellowship (2007 – 2009 and 2012 – 2014), and Outstanding Performance Awards (2008, 2011, and 2017).