Koushik Kar

Professor
Department of Electrical, Computer & Systems Engineering,
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Contact Information:

ECSE Department, JEC 6048,
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute,
Troy, NY 12180, USA.
Ph :  (518) 276-2653
Email : kark@rpi.edu

Brief Bio

I have been with the Department of Electrical, Computer and Systems Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) since Fall 2002. I obtained the Ph.D. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Maryland, College Park in 2002, and the M.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from the same university in 1999. I received the B.Tech. degree in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India, in 1997. I have also held visiting research positions at Bell Laboratories, NJ, and IBM TJ Watson Research Center, NY.

My core specialization is in control and optimization of networked systems, with special focus on data communication networks and more recently on energy flow networks. More details on my research, teaching and other professional activities can be found below.

Research

Most of my research has been in the field of data communication networks - on performance modeling, analysis and optimization questions for the Internet as well as wireless and sensor networks. At a high level, a unifying theme that characterizes much of my research activities in this context is the design and analysis of solution approaches that can optimize usage of communication-critical resources (bandwidth and energy) in networks, with the goal of attaining maximum global network utility or fair sharing of resources in the network. A significant part of this research is focused on developing and analyzing network algorithms that can be implemented in a decentralized manner, through local coordination, often only requiring limited information about the network topology and conditions. This also includes studying related questions in resource pricing and network economics related to use of shared bandwidth among self-interested agents.

In recent years, I have also applied some of the key control and optimization techniques developed for communication networks to energy flow networks with the goal of attaining better spatio-temporal load and energy supply distribution through demand-response strategies.

A distinguishing feature of my work is the use of linear, non-linear and stochastic optimization and control techniques, to study these network algorithm design/resource allocation questions. Since my work mostly focuses on distributed systems/agents, some of it also has a game-theoretic flavor.

My core research can be grouped into the following topics (key papers can be found by clicking on the links below):

My research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, MIT Lincoln Labs, Office of Naval Research, US Army Research, Department of Energy, IBM Research, and Cisco Systems.

I am a part of the Center of Pervasive Computing and Networking; Institute for Energy, the Built Environment, and Smart Systems; and Center for Future Energy Systems at RPI.

My Google Scholar page

★Selected Recent Publications★

If you wish to obtain a preprint of any of my papers (if not already available online), please send me an email at kark@rpi.edu.

Teaching

I teach courses in the areas of computer systems, communication systems and networks, and network systems and engineering, at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. The course materials are available through RPI's Learning Management System. The courses that I have taught in recent years (at senior and graduate levels) at RPI include:

Professional Activities

Miscellaneous

Dr. Shivkumar Kalyanaraman's lecture slides and videos on networking, are available here. (Note: Dr. Kalyanaraman was formerly a professor of networking at RPI, and these instructional material are from courses he taught at RPI between 1999 and 2007. These lecture material, popular among online and self-learning students, are included here with his permission for wider accessibility. These can be used as reference or supplementary material for understanding basic concepts in computer networking.)