Nick McKeown

Professor Emeritus of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, Stanford University

Nick McKeown is an award-winning scientist, a Senior Fellow at Intel, an emeritus professor at Stanford University in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and a visiting professor at Oxford University. Nick was also appointed to the UK Prime Minister’s Council for Science and Technology in February 2025, where he advises the government on high-level science and technology priorities, particularly focusing on AI chip design, semiconductor strategy, and photonics to boost UK innovation. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in modern computer networking, especially in Internet architecture, high-performance switching, and software-defined networking (SDN).  

Nick’s early work includes his research efforts at Hewlett-Packard Labs in the late 1980s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, he helped architect Cisco’s GSR 12000 router, a major commercial backbone router. This early phase shaped his lifelong focus on how to make networks faster, scalable, and programmable. 

Nick’s research group, The McKeown Group, focuses on advancing network innovation by building open experimental platforms and promoting flexible, programmable networks over rigid hardware systems, with contributions spanning router design, switching algorithms, and novel memory architectures. He co-invented SDN through the Ethane project and OpenFlow protocol, helping shift networking toward software-controlled infrastructure, and was awarded the Marconi Prize in 2025 for these contributions. He also developed widely used open platforms like NetFPGA and the P4 programming language, and co-founded Nicira Networks, which was acquired by VMware for $1.26 billion. As of 2026, his work explores AI fabrics and low-cost underwater vehicles. Nick earned a master's degree in 1992 and PhD in 1995 both from the University of California at Berkeley.