FCC Names New CTO

A former Federal Communications Commission (FCC) division chief will return to the agency in late July to take on a new role as chief technologist.

Douglas C. Sicker will replace Jon Peha, who is moving to the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). As chief technologist, Sicker will advise the FCC on technological issues as part of its FCC's Office of Strategic Planning and Policy Analysis.

Peha is leaving the agency next month to lend his expertise to issues such as broadband spectrum that are of concern to both the FCC and the OSTP.

Sicker is currently associate professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Colorado at Boulder, with a joint appointment in the Interdisciplinary Telecommunications Program.

Sicker -- who has a PhD from the University of Pittsburgh -- specializes in research concerning network and wireless systems, network security and telecommunications policy. He's received funding for these research efforts from the National Science Foundation, DARPA, the Internet Society and the Federal Aviation Administration.

Prior to his current role, Sicker was director of global architecture at Level 3 Communications, a position he took after he served as chief of the Network Technology Division at the FCC.

He also has served on the Network Reliability and Interoperability Council steering committee, an FCC federal advisory committee that focuses on network reliability, wireline spectral integrity and Internet peering and interconnection.

Sicker is currently active in several industry associations. He is a senior member of the IEEE, as well as a member of the Internet Society.