John Baras

John S. Baras is a Greek-American electrical engineer and applied mathematician. He is a Distinguished University Professor and the Lockheed Martin Chair in Systems Engineering at the University of Maryland, College Park. He is the founding director of the Institute for Systems Research, one of the first six National Science Foundation Engineering Research Centers.

Baras is known for developing the algorithms and protocols that enabled broadband Internet over satellite, which led to the development of HughesNet and the creation of the Internet-over-satellite industry.

Education Baras received a Diploma in Electrical and Mechanical Engineering with highest honors from the National Technical University of Athens in 1970, where he was awarded the Ch. Chrysovergis Award as the outstanding graduating student from the Department of Electrical Engineering. He received an M.S. in 1971 and a Ph.D. in 1973, both in applied mathematics, from Harvard University. In 1990, he was appointed to the endowed Lockheed Martin Chair in Systems Engineering.

Internet over satellite Baras developed the algorithms and protocols for broadband Internet service over satellite, introducing and demonstrating the first working broadband Internet-over-satellite protocol in 1994. George S. Axelby Prize, IEEE Control Systems Society, 1980 Richard E. Bellman Control Heritage Award, American Automatic Control Council, 2017, "for innovative contributions to control theory, stochastic systems, and networks and academic leadership in systems and control" AIAA Aerospace Communications Award, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 2018 Fellow, Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellow, National Academy of Inventors Fellow, International Federation of Automatic Control Fellow, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 2020 A. James Clark School of Engineering Innovation Hall of Fame, 2016