"A Research Group is expected to be long-lived, producing a
sequence of products over time," the guidelines continue. "The products
of a Research Group are research results that may be disseminated by
publication in scholarly journals and conferences, as white papers for
the community, as Informational RFCs, and so on. In addition, it is
expected that technologies developed in a Research Group will be
brought to the IETF as input to IETF Working Group(s) for possible
standardization."
Per the rules, the Internet Architecture Board (IAB) appointed
Falk to the chairmanship. His duties include the designation in
consultation with others of members of the groups steering committee,
and playing a leading role in encouraging, regulating (and if necessary
disbanding) existing groups, and deciding when and whether to start new
ones.
He will in general "ensure that Research Groups produce
coherent, coordinated, architecturally consistent and timely output as
a contribution to the overall evolution of the Internet architecture."
Falk has a long history of activity in Internet research, As his
web biography notes, he "started and chaired the Internet Protocols
over Satellite working group within the Satellite Communication
Division of the Telecommunications Industry Association. This lead to a
role chairing the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) working group
on TCP over Satellite.
He is past chair of the IETF Performance Implications of Link
Characteristics (PILC) working group and currently chairs the
Datagram Congestion Control Protocol (DCCP) working group.
Prior to coming to ISI, Falk worked for TRW, and before that as a
graduate student at the University of Maryland Institute for Systems
Research invented and coded DirecPC, a system to deliver broadband
Internet access via satellite.
His current ISI research work includes work on the new XCP Internet protocol,
aimed at easing Internet congestion.