9:55 a.m., Nov. 8, 2010----Walter David Sincoskie, 55, a University of Delaware electrical and computer engineering professor, died Oct. 20, at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.

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A resident of Hockessin, Del., and formerly from Hampton, N.J., Dr. Sincoskie joined UD in 2008. During his tenure as a professor, he established the Center for Information and Communications Sciences to help address national security issues and served as its director.

Also a UD alumnus, Dr. Sincoskie received his bachelor's, master's and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Delaware. He was elected to the UD Alumni Wall of Fame in 2006.

Prior to joining UD, Dr. Sincoskie worked for Bell Laboratories in Murray Hill in communication research. From 1986 to 1995, Dr. Sincoskie led the world's leading switching research organization at Bellcore which spearheaded the telecommunications transition from circuit-switching to packet-switching, a key factor in the successful commercialization of the Internet. From 1996 to 2008, he was senior vice president of Telcordia's Networking Systems Laboratory where, among other achievements, he pioneered the creation of Internet telephony.

He made many seminal contributions to the science and technologies of communications networks, including the first voice-over-packet phone, first virtual LAN, first description of a digital video server and first wide-area gigabit computer network. During these years he was also an adjunct professor of computer and information science at the University of Pennsylvania. As a special government employee since 2002, he advised senior executives within the Department of Defense.

Dr. Sincoskie is author of numerous papers and co-inventor on many patents. He was a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a fellow of the IEEE. He received the IEEE's Fred W. Ellersick Prize (2003) for his paper, “Broadband Packet Switching: A Personal Perspective,” which detailed his research contributions over two decades to the development of today's broadband Internet. He was a member of Tau Beta Pi and Eta Kappa Nu.

His public service included the National Academies Board on Army Science and Technologies, the Army Lab Assessment Group, DARPA's Information Sciences and Technology group, five National Research Council panels and the Internet Architecture Board.

He is survived by his wife of 31 years, JoAnn (Schmidt) Sincoskie. He was predeceased by his parents, the late Walter J. and Lillian Sincoskie.

Condolences may be sent by visiting [http://chandlerfuneralhome.com/].

Memorial contributions can be made to the ECE Scholarship in memory of Dave Sincoskie, in care of the University of Delaware Development Office, 011 Hullihen Hall, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716.