Professor Porter's research interests span the fields of computer networks, data-intensive computing, and computer systems, with a specific focus on data center networking. He works to reduce the barrier to developing, deploying, and managing applications that are able to process massive amounts of data, while ensuring that the resulting systems are practical, low cost, and energy efficient. His research specifically focuses on: i) improving the networks that underpin data-intensive clusters and data centers so that they can support a new generation of applications, and ii) enabling developers and operators to build systems that support data sizes an order of magnitude greater than the existing state of the art. He obtained his Ph.D. from the RAD Lab in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences Department at U.C. Berkeley and his undergraduate degree in the Department of Computer Sciences at U.T. Austin.