Dr. Zhi-Li ZHANG

“Having served on the Scientific Advisory Board for IMDEA Networks from its inception until 2010, I am happy to see IMDEA Networks growing into a now well-known and well-recognized networking research institute in Europe and in the world. Between 2006 and 2012, I have made several short visits to Madrid, and really enjoyed them. I love the people, the culture and the food (especially the jamón). When I was thinking about how to spend my sabbatical year in late 2010, IMDEA and Madrid naturally came to my kind. Then I saw the announcement regarding the “Cátedras de Excelencia” visiting chair professorship offered by Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M), I seized the opportunity and applied for it. I was fortunate -- and very pleased -- to be awarded the “Cátedras de Excelencia” visiting chair professorship for 6 months. I knew I would have the great opportunity to work with the great colleagues at UC3M and IMDEA Networks. I was not mistaken.

From the first day I landed in Madrid, I enjoyed every bit of my 6 month sabbatical in Madrid. The welcome I received, the warmth of people I met and eagerness of help people offered me quickly made me feel home, both at UC3M and IMDEA Networks. The great staff, Rebecca de Miguel, Brian Dunne, Flora Quintans and others at IMDEA Networks are simply super.

The ability to talk to, interact and work with and learn from so many people from both UC3M and IMDEA Networks was one of the many great benefits offered by the “Cátedras de Excelencia” visiting chair professorship. At the UC3M side, I learned from Jaime García-Reinoso and Iván Vidal about their impressive ICN/CCN work, and from Carmen Guerrero about her research on her social networks. I was glad for the opportunity to give a guess lecture on my measurement work on YouTube in their joint course on “Network Architectures for Content Delivery.” I was even able to “remotely” interact with Rubén Cuevas (while he’s on sabbatical in Oregon, US) and work with his students at UC3M. However, my most fruitful research interaction and collaboration were with researchers and students at IMDEA Networks. Besides various information research discussions with Albert Banchs, Antonio Fernández Anta, Balaji Rengarajan, José Pablo Salvador and Pierre Francois on a number of topics related to wireless networking, network routing and algorithms, I was able to work with Jorge Arjona and Sergey Gorinsky on social network computing, network economics, and measurement and economics of Internet content distributions. My biggest regret was that six months was simply too short, and I was not able to take full advantage of the research collaborations at IMDEA. Well, when you are enjoying yourself, time flies by past! (My second biggest regret was that I didn't have the chance to learn to speak Spanish fluently!)

Oh, let me not to forget the students at IMDEA. I must say that I was very impressed by the wonderful and diverse group of talented graduate students at IMDEA Networks. I loved the many informal chats and “serious” discussions with various students from different parts of the world during the lunch time and coffee breaks. In my mind, this group of talented students is perhaps the best testimony to the rapid success that IMDEA, as a young institution, has amazingly achieved. Of course, this is, in a large part, owing to the great team of senior researchers at IMDEA, and the open and creative research environment they have helped foster. Since I came back to US, I have recommended IMDEA Networks to many young researchers and prospective graduating Ph.D students as a place in Europe to pursue their research career. Based on my 6 month experience at IMDEA, I have no doubt that IMDEA will be one of the most recognized research institutes in the near future.”