Bio: Anthony Acampora came to the Jacobs School in 1995 and was CWC director until 1999. For seven years, he was on the Columbia University faculty, where he directed the Center for Telecommunications Research. For 20 years, he was a research scientist and manager at AT&T Bell Labs. He iholds 30 patents and is an IEEE fellow and author of a key textbook: An Introduction to Broadband Networks. He received his Ph.D. in electrical engineering in 1973 from Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute.

Research: The founding Director of UCSD's Center for Wireless Communications (CWC), Professor Acampora works on bridging gaps in America's digital infrastructure. His research has spanned most of modern telecommunications major challenges including broadband packet networks, network management and control, quality of service maintenance, multiwavelength optical networks, universal wireless access, packet switching, wireless media access protocols, mobility management, wireless local area networks, smart antennae, and wireless sensor networks. He has detailed how hybrid systems based on radio and free-space optics can economically fix the 'last-mile problem.' Fiber-optic backbones can move vast data quantities, but most buildings access the Internet via copper wires and coaxial cables, akin to draining a reservoir through straws. Acampora is an expert on IEEE 802.11, having developed strategies to make this so-called 'Wi-Fi' standard as reliable as Ethernet for LANs. He can discuss Wi-Fi and IEEE 802.11's evolution beyond the LAN into the public domain. Using unlicensed spectrum, Wi-Fi and 802.11 can provide wireless capacity in dense traffic environments to complement services otherwise handled by cellular base stations using licensed spectrum. A keen industry observer, Acampora can provide perspective on the technological and economic forces shaping telecommunications.