Paul Barford

Paul Barford serves as Department Chair and Carl de Boor Professor in the Computer Sciences Department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he founded and directs the Wisconsin Advanced Internet Laboratory and participates in the networking research group.

Education

• B.S. in Electrical Engineering, University of Illinois
• Ph.D. in Computer Science, Boston University

Research Focus: His work centers on computer networking and communications, emphasizing Internet data measurement, protocol analysis, and topological structure. He extensively investigates Internet security domains including fraud detection, traffic anomaly identification, malicious attack analysis, and intrusion systems—bridging theoretical frameworks with real-world security challenges.

Research Support: Funded by NSF, DHS, ARO, Cisco, and Intel, his projects drive innovation in network infrastructure security and measurement methodologies.

Awards & Honors

• EPSRC Visiting Fellowship

Professional Leadership: Served as Program Committee Chair for ACM SIGCOMM (2013), ACM SIGMETRICS (2010), and ACM IMC (2006). Held board positions at National Lambdarail, editorial roles at IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking, and co-chaired the GENI Instrumentation and Measurement Working Group. Prior industry experience includes founding Nemean Networks (acquired by Qualys) and Mdotlabs (acquired by comScore), where he served as Chief Scientist.