Jeffrey P. Buzen

Jeffrey Peter Buzen (born May 28, 1943) is an American computer scientist in system performance analysis best known for his contributions to queueing theory. His PhD dissertation and his 1973 paper Computational algorithms for closed queueing networks with exponential servers have guided the study of queueing network modeling for decades.

Born in Brooklyn, Buzen holds three degrees in Applied Mathematics -- an ScB (1965) from Brown University and, from Harvard University, an MS (1966) and a PhD (1971). He was a systems programmer at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland (1967–69), where his technique for optimizing the performance of a realtime biomedical computer system led to his first publication at a 1969 IEEE conference. After completing his PhD, he held concurrent appointments as a lecturer in computer science at Harvard and as a systems engineer at Honeywell (1971-76). Some of his students at Harvard have gone on to become well-known figures in computing. Buzen was PhD thesis advisor for Robert M. Metcalfe (1973), Turing Award winner and co-inventor of Ethernet, and for John M. McQuillan (1974), developer the original adaptive routing algorithms used in ARPAnet and Internet. Buzen also co-taught a two-semester graduate-level course on operating systems (AM 251a/AM251br) that Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates took during his freshman year (1973-74). Gates wrote "It was the only 'computer course' I officially took at Harvard."

In addition to being an educator and a researcher, Buzen is also an entrepreneur. Along with fellow Harvard applied mathematics PhDs Robert Goldberg and Harold Schwenk, he co-founded BGS Systems in 1975. The company, which began operations in his basement, for technical excellence and professional contributions as a teacher and inspirer of others. He also received the ACM SIGMETRICS Achievement Award in 2010.

He was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 2003 for contributions to the theory and commercial application of computer system performance models.