Lixia Zhang

Lixia Zhang is a Professor at the Computer Science Department of University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). She leads the Internet Research Lab (IRL) and has been a key figure in the Named Data Networking (NDN) project since 2010, building on Van Jacobson's Content-Centric Networking (CCNx) vision.

• Education: PhD from MIT (TCP/IP research), advised by Dr. David Clark
• Experience: Xerox PARC (7 years), currently at UCLA since 1998
• Labs: Director of Internet Research Lab (IRL) at UCLA

Her research focuses on Internet architecture design, NDN protocol development, and network security. She has published extensively on topics like DDoS defense patterns, LEO satellite networking, and decentralization frameworks. Her work spans applications in mHealth data sharing, edge computing, and augmented reality.

Recent publications show trends in NDN scalability, secure communication, and decentralized internet infrastructure, with 15 most recent articles covering LEO satellite networks, metaverse security, scientific data distribution, and stateful forwarding mechanisms.

Scientific Awards:

• PAM 2010 Best Paper Award
• Best Poster Award at ACM ICN 2018

Grants & Leadership: Recipient of Cisco Systems grant (2022) for satellite networking research, co-chair of IRTF Decentralized Internet Infrastructure Research Group (2021), and organizer of multiple NDN Community Meetings and Hackathons. Her lab has produced notable alumni including Mohit Lad (co-founder of ThousandEyes) and Lucas Wang.