2023: The National Medal of Technology and Innovation
Presented by: His Eminence Sebastiano Cardinal Baggio, President of the Pontifical Commission for the City of the State of the Vatican, at the Pontifical Academy of Science, Rome
John M. Cioffi is Chairman and CEO of ASSIA, Inc., a Redwood City, California-based company pioneering DSL and Wireless management software sold to internet service providers, specifically known for introducing Dynamic Spectrum Management or DSM. He is also the Hitachi Professor Emeritus at Stanford University, where he held a tenured endowed professorship before retiring after 25 full-time years in 2009. Cioffi received his BSEE, 1978, Illinois; PhD in EE, 1984, Stanford; Honorary Doctorate, University of Edinburgh 2010; Bell Laboratories, 1978-1984; IBM Research, 1984-1986; EE Prof., Stanford, 1986-present. Cioffi also founded Amati Com. Corp in 1991 (purchased by TI in 1997 for its DSL technology) and was officer/director from 1991-1997. At Amati, Cioffi designed the world’s first ADSL and VDSL modems, which designs today accounts for roughly 98% of the world’s over 500 million DSL connections. Cioffi is an inventor on the basic patents on the widely licensed ADSL design, VDSL, Dynamic Spectrum Management, and vectored DSLs.
Cioffi currently is also on the Board of Directors of Alto Beam, and has served on several other public/private boards over the last 15 years. He is on the advisory boards of several companies. Various other awards include IEEE Alexander Graham Bell Medal (2010), 2010 Economist Magazine Telecommunications Innovator of the Year, International Marconi Fellow (2006); Member, United States National Academy of Engineering (2001); International Fellow United Kingdom’s Royal Academy of Engineering (2009); IEEE Kobayashi Medal (2001); IEEE Millennium Medal (2000); IEEE Fellow (1996); IEE JJ Thomson Medal (2000); 1999 U. of Illinois Outstanding Alumnus and 2010 Distinguished Alumnus. Cioffi has published several hundred technical papers and is the inventor named on over 100 additional patents, many of which are heavily licensed in the communication industry.
