Jennifer Rexford is an American computer scientist who currently holds the position of Provost and Gordon Y. S. Wu Professor in Engineering at Princeton University. She is also a Professor of Computer Science and previously served as Chair of the Department of Computer Science at the same university. Her research involves studying how computer networks work, with a focus on how data moves through networks, how well networks operate, and how to keep networks running smoothly.

Life and career

Rexford completed her undergraduate studies at Princeton University, where she earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering in 1991. She then attended the University of Michigan for graduate school, studying computer science and engineering. She received a master's degree in 1993 and a doctorate in 1996. Her doctoral thesis, titled "Tailoring router architectures to performance requirements in cut-through networks," was directed by Kang G. Shin. During her graduate studies, she worked at Bell Labs for two summers. After completing her doctorate, she joined what had become AT&T Labs and worked there from 1996 to 2005. In 2005, she began teaching at Princeton University.

In 2005, Rexford received the ACM Grace Murray Hopper Award. This award is given to a computer professional who has made a significant technical or service contribution before the age of 35. She was recognized for her work on improving network routing to meet the different business needs of operators in Border Gateway Protocol. In 2016, she was named the recipient of the ACM Athena Lecturer Award, which honors women who have made important contributions to computer science. She became a fellow of the ACM in 2008 and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2013. In 2014, she was elected to the National Academy of Engineering for her contributions to the stability of large computer networks. In 2020, she was elected to the National Academy of Sciences.