Erol Gelenbe

Erol Gelenbe [ [http://dblp.uni-trier.de/rec/bibtex/conf/iscis/Caglayan05 DBLP Record 'conf/iscis/Caglayan05' ] ] a Turkish academic, computer scientist, engineer and applied mathematician, is a scientific leader in the field of computer and network performance evaluation [http://www.sigmetrics.org/AchievementAward/2008.html ACM/SIGMETRICS 2008 Achievement Award ] ] . He is a Member of Academia Europaea, of the Turkish Academy of Sciences, and of the Academie des Technologies or French Academy of Technologies which is the French National Academy of Engineering. He is a Fellow of IEEE [ http://www.ieee.org/portal/pages/about/awards/fellows/80s/1986.xml] , a Fellow of ACM and Fellow of IET. Professor in the Dennis Gabor Chair at Imperial College London (UK), and Head of the Intelligent Systems and Networks Group in the Electrical and Electronic Engineering Department, he teaches and conducts research on Computer Networks, and on probability models of large networked artificial and natural systems. He was awarded the honours of Grande Ufficiale dell'Ordine della Stella della Solidarieta Italiana [ [http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordine_della_Stella_della_Solidariet%C3%A0_Italiana] ] , Commendatore dell'Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana, and of Officier de l'Ordre National du Merite of France. Erol Gelenbe has introduced new modeling methods such as G-networks and the random neural network. He has transformed Computer Science in France [ [http://fellows.acm.org/fellow_citation.cfm?id=4447025&srt=all ACM: Fellows Award / Erol Gelenbe ] ] by creating research teams at INRIA and in French Universities. He introduced Computer Science education into all undergraduate programs in France while serving as Science and Technology Adviser to the French Minister for Universities Mr Roger-Gérard Schwartzenberg in 1984-1986. He has founded PhD programs in Computer Science at the University of Paris-Sud and . At New Jersey Institute of Technology he briefly held the New Jersey State Endowed Chair in the Department of Computer and Information Systems, and then was the Nello L. Teer Chair and Department Head at Duke University. He was one of the initiators of the ACM's SIGMETRICS special interest group, he co-founded the IFIPS Working Group 7.3, initiated and sustained the ISCIS [ [http://www.informatik.un-trier.de/~ley/db/conf/iscis/index.html Portail d'informations ] ] http://iscis05.cmpe.boun.edu.tr/Iscis2005CFP.pdf] series of Computer Science conferences in Turkey, and plays a leadership role in scientific journals in his field. His Erdős number is three through a joint paper with E.G. Coffman and E.N. Gilbert. [ [http://dblp.uni-trier.de/rec/bibtex/conf/sigmetrics/CoffmanGG86 DBLP Record 'conf/sigmetrics/CoffmanGG86' ] ] . He has graduated more than fifty-five doctoral students who now play key roles in France, Italy, the UK, Canada, the USA, Turkey and Greece. His books have been published in English, French, Japanese and Korean. He was elected at the age of 26 in 1971 to a Chair in Computer Science at the University of Liège [http://www.ulg.ac.be/ University of Liège] in Belgium where he taught from 1974 to 1979. He served on the faculties of Ecole Polytechnique (1979-1987), University of Paris-Sud (1979-1986), , New Jersey Institute of Technology Department of Computer Science and Information Systems (1991-1993), and Chaired the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at Duke University. He founded the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Central Florida and was its first Director (1999-2003).

Family History

Descended from the 18th century Ottoman mathematician Gelenbevi Ismail Efendi (1730-1790) [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gelenbevi_Ismail_Efendi] [http://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gelenbevi_%C4%B0smail_Efendi] who taught at the Naval Academy, his grandfather Ibrahim Sami was a member of the Ottoman Council of State (Surayi Devlet, "Conseil d'Etat"), the legal advisory body to the government. His notable relatives include the Cabinet Minister Mehmet Cemaleddin Efendi (1848-1917), the Istanbul Mayor and pioneering surgeon Prof. Cemil Topuzlu (1868-1958) also known as Cemil Pasha (Cemil Paşa), the film director Baha Gelenbevi (1907-1984), the opera singer and teacher Ren Gelenbevi, and the surgeon Prof. Cemalettin Topuzlu. The high school (lycee) Gelenbevi Lisesi [ [http://www.gelenbevi.k12.tr Gelenbevi Anadolu Lisesi ] ] in Istanbul perpetuates the family name.

Selected Bibliography

* E Gelenbe "On languages defined by linear probabilistic automata." Information and Control , 16(5):487-501, July 1970.
* S.E. Gelenbe "A realizable model for stochastic sequential machines." IEEE Trans. Comput. 20, 199-204 (1971).
* E. Gelenbe "On approximate computer system models" Journal of the ACM 22(2):261-269 (April 1975).
* E. Gelenbe and I. Mitrani "Analysis and synthesis of computer systems." Academic Press (June 1980), 239 pp., ISBN-10: 0122793501, ISBN-13: 978-0122793509.
* E. Gelenbe "On the optimum checkpoint interval." Journal of the ACM , 26(2):259-270, April 1979.
* E. Gelenbe "Product-Form queueing networks with negative and positive customers." Journal of Applied Probability, Vol. 28 (3): 656-663 (Sep., 1991).
* E. Gelenbe, Mao, Z.H., Li, Y.D. "Function approximation with spiked random networks.", IEEE Trans. on Neural Networks, 10 (1): 3-9, 1999.
* E. Gelenbe and G. Pujolle "Introduction to Queueing Networks." John Wiley & Sons, Inc. New York, NY, USA, 1987 and 2000.
* E. Gelenbe, R. Lent and Z. Xu "Design and performance of a cognitive packet network." Performance Evaluation, 46, (2-3): 155-176, October 2001.
* E. Gelenbe and Hussain K.F. "Learning in the multiple class random neural network. " IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks, 13(6): 1257-1267, Nov. 2002.
* E. Gelenbe, Gellman, M. Lent, R., Liu P. and Pu Su "Autonomous smart routing for network QoS." Autonomic Computing, 2004. Proc. International Conference on Autonomic Computing: 232-239, ISBN 0-7695-2114-2, , 17-18 May 2004.
* J.-M. Fourneau and E. Gelenbe "Flow equivalence and stochastic equivalence in G-networks." DOI 10.1007/s10287-003-0008-z, Computational Management Science, 1 (2): 179-192, July 2004.
* E. Gelenbe "Analysis of automated auctions." ISCIS'06, Computer and Information Sciences, 21th International Symposium, Istanbul, Turkey, November 1-3, 2006, ISCIS), Springer Lecture Notes in Computer Science, LNCS 4263, ISBN 3-540-47242-8, pp. 1-12, 2006.
* E. Gelenbe "Steady-state solution of probabilistic gene regulatory networks", Physical Review E, 76(1), 031903 (2007).
* E. Gelenbe "A Diffusion Model for Packet Travel Time in a Random Multi-Hop Medium", ACM Trans. on Sensor Networks, 3 (2), Article 10, June 2007.

See also

* M. Ufuk Çaglayan "Erol Gelenbe's Career and Contributions" in Proc. ISCIS 2005, Springer Lecture Notes in Computer Science LNCS No. 3733, ISBN 3-540-29414-7, pp. 966-970, Berlin and Heidelberg, 2005.
* A. Bensoussan "Erol Gelenbe's Contributions to Computer and Networks Performance" pp. 1-5, in J. Barria (ed.) "Communication Networks and Computer Systems: A Tribute to Professor Erol Gelenbe.", Imperial College Press, World Scientific, 2006.

* J. Barria (ed.) "Communication Networks and Computer Systems: A Tribute to Professor Erol Gelenbe.", Imperial College Press, World Scientific, ISBN 1860946593, London and Singapore, 2006.

Academic career

Erol Gelenbe graduated from Ankara Koleji in 1962 where he was a member of the "knowledge competition" (Bilgi Yarişmasi) team that won the national inter-high school championships. He graduated with High Honours from the Middle East Technical University (Ankara) in 1966, winning the K.K. Clarke Research Award for work on "partial flux switching magnetic memory systems". He was awarded a Fulbright Fellowhsip to study at Polytechnic University (Brooklyn Poly) in New York. Working under Professor Edward J. Smith, he completed his Master's degree and PhD thesis on "Stochastic automata with structural restrictions" (influenced by the work of M.O. Rabin) in three years and then joined the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) as an Assistant Professor. In 1972, on leave from MIchigan, he founded the research group at INRIA (France) on "Modeling and Performance Evaluation of Computer Systems", and was a visiting lecturer at the University of Paris XIII (1973). He was awarded a "Doctorat d'Etat es Sciences" from the University of Paris VI with a thesis on "Modeles mathematiques de systemes informatiques" in 1973. In 1971 he had been elected to the second Chair in Computer Science at the University of Liege,Belgium, which he joined in 1973 while remaining a research director at INRIA. He moved to the University of Paris-Sud in 1979 where he co-founded the Laboratoire de Recherche en Informatique and its PhD Program. He moved to New Jersey Institute of Technology and worked as a Professor at its Department of Computer Science and Information Systems between 1991 to 1993. Then he was a Chaired professor at Duke University and Head of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering between 1993 to 2003. He was University Chair Professor from 1998-2003 at the University of Central Florida and founded the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. Since 2003 he holds the Dennis Gabor Chair named after the Nobel laureate Dennis Gabor at Imperial College (London).

Notable contributions

He contributed both theoretical and applied research concerning the performance of multiprogramming computer systems, virtual memory management, data base reliability optimisation, distributed systems and network protocols. He carried out some of the first work on the adaptive control of computer systems, and published seminal papers on the performance analysis and optimisation of computer network protocols and on the use of diffusion approximations for network performance. He developed the mathematics of new product form queueing networks with negative customers and triggers known as "G-networks". He has also introduced a new spiked stochastic neural network model known as the random neural network, developed its mathematical solution and learning algorithms, and applied it to both engineering and biological problems. His inventions include the design of the first random access fibre-optics local area network, a patented admission control technique for ATM networks, a neural network based anomaly detector for brain magnetic resonance scans, and the "cognitive packet network" routing protocol to offer quality of service to users. Erol has collaborated with the telecommunications and computer industry in the framework of funded projects and as a consultant. He has graduated more than fifty PhD students who are active in academia and industry in France, Turkey, Belgium, the U.S., Venezuela, Canada, Greece, the UK and other countries.

In 1986, he founded the ISCIS (International Symposium on Computer and Information Sciences)series of conferences that have been held annually in Turkey to bring together Turkish computer scientists with their counterparts across the world. Typically held at the end of October, these meetings have now been continuing for more than twenty years.

In 1982 he conceived and implemented a national program in France for vocational training in computer technology called the "Programme des VFI (Volontaires pour la Formation a l'Informatique)". From 1984 to 1986 he served as the Science and Technology Advisor to the French Secretary of State for Universities and introduced a basic course in computer science for all university students across the country in all degree programs.

Awards

Erol's research contributions have won him many awards including the:
* ACM SIGMETRICS Award which describes him "as the single individual who, over a span of 30 years, has made the greatest overall contribution to the field of Computer System and Network Performance Evaluation"
* Knight Commander in the Order of the Star of Italian Solidarity, or "Grande Ufficiale dell'Ordine della Stella della Solidarieta Italiana" [ [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_orders_of_merit#Star_of_Italian_Solidarity_.28Ordine_della_Stella_della_Solidariet.C3.A0_Italiana.29] ]
* Member of the Turkish Academy of Sciences
* Member of the French Academy of Technologies or "Academie des Technologies"
* Member of Academia Europaea
* Docteur en Sciences "Honoris Causa", University of Liege [ [http://www.presse.ulg.ac.be/evenements/honoris2006/gelenbe.html Université de Liège - docteur Honoris Causa 2006 ] ] Belgium
* Dottore Ingenere "Honoris Causa", University of Rome Tor Vergata, Italy, 1996
* Doctor "Honoris Causa" from Boğaziçi University, Istanbul
* Commander of Merit of Italy (Commendatore in the "Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana")
* Chevalier des Palmes Academiques, France
* Officer of the Ordre National du Mérite of France
* Fellow of the ACM, New York, USA
* France Telecom Prize, one of the Grands Prix [ [http://www.institut-de-france.fr/prixmecenat/as.htm#grandprix Institut de France - Prix et mécénat ] ] of the French Academy of Science, 1996
* Parlar Foundation Science Award, Turkey, 1994
* Chevalier de l'Ordre National du Merite, France, 1991
* Fellow of the IEEE, New York, USA, 1986
* IFIPS (IFIP) Silver Core Award, 1980

Notes and references

External links

* [http://dblp.uni-trier.de/rec/bibtex/conf/iscis/Caglayan05] [M. Ufuk Çaglayan “Erol Gelenbe's Career and Contributions” in ISCIS 2005, Springer Lecture Notes in Computer Science LNCS No. 3733, ISBN 3-540-29414-7, pp. 966-970, Berlin and Heidelberg, 2005.]
* [E.G. Coffman Jr, E. Gelenbe, E. G. Gilbert "Analysis of a Conveyor Queue in a Flexible Manufacturing System", ACM SIGMETRICS, pp. 204-223, 1986.]
* [http://www.ieee.org/portal/pages/about/awards/fellows/80s/1986.xml] Erol Gelenbe's election to Fellow of the IEEE
* [http://www2.ee.ic.ac.uk/electricalengineering/eepeople/person.asp?s=NIL&id=3703] Erol Gelenbe at Imperial College
* [http://fellows.acm.org/fellow_citation.cfm?id=4447025&srt=all] Citation for Election to Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery
* [http://www.acm.org/ubiquity/interviews/e_gelenbe_1.html] Interview published in ACM Ubiquity.
* [http://www.informatik.uni-trier.de/~ley/db/indices/a-tree/g/Gelenbe:Erol.html] Erol Gelenbe's Publications as listed in the DBLP Computer Science Bibliography and his List of Collaborators (including his doctoral students).
* [http://iscis05.cmpe.boun.edu.tr/Iscis2005CFP.pdf]
* [http://www.sigmetrics.org/AchievementAward/2008.html]
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_orders_of_merit#Star_of_Italian_Solidarity_.28Ordine_della_Stella_della_Solidariet.C3.A0_Italiana.29]