We are shaping the future of human interaction.


The UCLA Connection Lab is designed to provide an environment that will support advanced research in technologies at the forefront of all things regarding connectivity.

What happened to the Internet I knew?


Dr. Leonard Kleinrock, an internet pioneer and Director of the UCLA Connection Lab, shares his thoughts on the early days of the internet, where it currently stands, what went wrong, and the possible futures it might achieve.

Join us

The Lab invites world-renowned faculty and guests, as well as promising postdocs and students, to upend assumptions, disrupt the present, and forge new pathways to build open and inclusive connections.

What we’re thinking

It’s about inclusive connectivity

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Advanced Network Protocol Design

Internet protocol design and architecture enables us all to efficiently work together. What will future protocols look like and how can they enhance the user experience?

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Blockchain

The rapidly expanding technology of blockchain is much more than currency and transaction anonymity. How do we use, expand, and advance the development of secure, efficient, and seamless blockchains to improve human interaction?

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Cryptography

How do we secure the seemingly infinite stream of data, public and personal, on the internet – and how do we ensure that the interactions we facilitate are safe from malice?

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Distributed Systems

Distributed systems surround us in today’s world of high technology including the internet, the cloud, social networks, blockchain, and more. When the multiple components of the system communicate and coordinate their actions properly, the system provides resilience, scalability, security and performance enhancements. The challenge is how to protect against inefficiencies, lost data, malicious behavior, and unforeseen failures.

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Networks

The backbone of all human interaction is the system it relies upon to function. In the online world, that’s the network. But it’s much more than the infrastructure of boxes and wires. It also takes innovation to imagine what the network of the future will look like and how to build it.

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Security

How do we keep up in a world with so many possible malicious actors and a system that was founded in a time when privacy and security were an afterthought?

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Wireless

Wireless technology is key to realizing the invisible internet by supporting mobility, IoT, 5G, and other advanced functionality. We anticipate and examine the leading edges of this technology.

The Origin

Lo, and behold!

Professor Kleinrock Discusses the Birth of the Internet

Few cultural revolutions can trace their origins as precisely as the one that was born on October 29, 1969. The ripple effects of that moment are felt daily five decades later by nearly every human on the planet, and will likely be felt for centuries to come.

Where did the greatest invention of our time begin? 3420 Boelter Hall at UCLA.

internet diagram
The power of new ideas

Undergraduate Internet Research Initiative

What is the IRI?

Mission

We support research that addresses aspects of technology development, social trends or problems, ethics, and/or justice relating to the internet.

IRI Mentors

Prize winners benefit from an intellectual environment with fellow prize awardees, dedicated lab space, and mentoring with faculty and outside experts. Each prize winner is matched with a distinguished mentor, who meets with the prize winner throughout their research year.

Events

The IRI hosts events throughout the year to honor and acknowledge cohorts and their research initiatives. All events are currently on hold due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Application

Undergraduates applying to the IRI should articulate their commitment toward a well-described research project that addresses some aspect of technology development, social trends or problems, art and design, ethics, and/or justice, as it contributes to the advancement of the future internet.

Benefactors

Support the Lab

Mark Cuban
Venky Harinarayan
Tetsuya Nakamura
Eric Schmidt
The Shen Family

Corporate and Individual Contributors

  • Aster Miso-Prince Ltd.
  • Gackt
  • Itabashi Medical System Group
  • The Lynch Family Foundation
  • Yohei Midorikawa
  • Go Nakamura
  • Sheng-Chih Coco Pao
  • Vijayakumar Tella
  • David Bohnett
  • Yu Uny Cao
  • Liming Chen
  • Aaron Cohen
  • Koji Fujita Family
  • Tom and Karissa Grasty
  • Yutaka Hagiwara
  • Yukihiro Harada
  • Koji Hirohata
  • Riku Ishii
  • Yukari Ishii
  • Keisuke & Ritsuko Iwano
  • Akiko Izumitani
  • Hironori Kasuyama Family
  • Kazuya Kazahaya
  • Tatsuya Kimura
  • Hiroo Kojima
  • Yoshifumi Miyazaki
  • Maki Nakaigawa
  • Mami Nakaigawa
  • Mari Nakaigawa
  • Masao Nakaigawa
  • Yoshiaki Nakaigawa
  • Akira Nakanishi
  • Shotaro Naohara
  • Mai Nishikawa Family
  • Shohei Noguchi
  • Steven H. Roesing
  • Akeyoshi Sanuki
  • Satoru & Eriko Shintani
  • Wayne Smith
  • Kazuhisa Sugita
  • Naohiro Takahashi
  • Tomoko Takahashi
  • Hiromi Takekawa
  • Naoko Tamada Family
  • Natsuko Tanaka Family
  • Shohei Tsujita
  • Hirohisa Uematsu
  • Kenji Umetsu Family
  • Tomoki Yamanaka
  • Hong Yuan
  • Xianrong Zheng
  • Xunwei Wilson Zhou
Our People

Professor Songwu Lu

UCLA Computer Science Professor Songwu Lu’s research interests include wireless networking, mobile systems, cloud computing and wireless and internet security. He is currently researching open, software-defined 4G/5G systems intended for emerging and industrial applications, such as AR/VR and robotics, with an emphasis on software applications. He also leads the Wireless …

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News & Insights

News and Insights