MIT’s Dina Katabi to Receive the $250,000 Prize in Computing From the Association of Computing Machinery

Dina Katabi, the Andrew and Erna Viterbi Professor of Computer Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has been selected to receive the Association for Computing Machinery Prize in Computing for her groundbreaking research in wireless systems for health-monitoring technologies. She will be honored at the association’s annual awards banquet in San Francisco on June 23. The award includes a $250,000 prize.

Dr. Katabi has developed a device that can monitor movement, breathing, and other metrics of humans who are behind walls that has particular applications for the healthcare management of the elderly. She is also the director of Center for Wireless Networks and Mobile Computing at MIT. Her research aims to improve the speed, reliability, and security of WiFi and cellular systems.

Vicki L. Hanson, president of the Association for Computing Machinery said that “innovations that help facilitate communications across mobile networks address an important need. Katabi’s work has contributed to a seamless increase in [mobile data] traffic, as well as the ever-increasing volumes of data that are shared over mobile systems. She is known for reimagining long-standing challenges in original ways.”

Dr. Katabi is a graduate of the University of Damascus and holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. from MIT.