Pradeep Sindhu, who founded Juniper Networks after earning hismaster's and doctorate degrees in computer science at Carnegie Mellon,is one of 19 alumni and honorary alumni who will be recognized with2008 Alumni Awards.

Three invaluable supporters of CarnegieMellon's Tartan Racing team- Chip Ganassi and Joseph C. and MollyWalton- will be named honorary alumni at the ceremony in Rangos Hallin the University Center, which begins at 5:30 p.m. Oct. 24.

Sindhu, a technical visionary in the field ofhigh-performance networking who has made legendary contributions toInternet router technology, is one of five recipients this year ofAlumni Achievement Awards. Currently board vice chairman and CTO ofJuniper Networks, he searved as chairman and CEO for eight months whenhe founded the company and played a central role in the architecture,design and development of the M40 router.

Prior to Juniper Networks, Sindhu worked as aPrincipal Scientist and Distinguished Engineer at the Computer ScienceLab at Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), where he worked ondesign tools for VLSI and high-speed interconnects for shared-memorymultiprocessors. His key roles in the architecture, design, anddevelopment of these machines led to the commercial development of SunMicrosystems' first high-performance multiprocessor system family,which included the SS1000 and SS2000.

He earned bachelor's and master's degrees inelectrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology and fromthe University of Hawaii, respectively. He earned his master's and PhDin computer science at Carnegie Mellon in 1983 and 1984.

Chip Ganassi and Joseph C. and Molly Waltonwill be recognized for their support of the Tartan Racing team, whichlast year won the $2 million DARPA Urban Challenge robot race. Ganassi,whose Chip Ganassi Racing is one of the most successful and innovativeteams in the auto racing industry, has provided advice, mentoring andsponsorship to Carnegie Mellon teams in a series of robot racessponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

Likewise, Joseph C. and Mary Walton have been energetic supporters of the robot racing team, championing its importance to the region'sfuture to the local business and foundation communities. Joe Walton hasinvested and held management positions in a variety of technologystartups, as well as in basic industry.

About Carnegie Mellon:Carnegie Mellon is a private research university with a distinctive mixof programs in engineering, computer science, robotics, business,public policy, fine arts and the humanities. More than 10,000undergraduate and graduate students receive an education characterizedby its focus on creating and implementing solutions for real problems,interdisciplinary collaboration, and innovation. A smallstudent-to-faculty ratio provides an opportunity for close interactionbetween students and professors. While technology is pervasive on its144-acre Pittsburgh campus, Carnegie Mellon is also distinctive amongleading research universities for the world-renowned programs in itsCollege of Fine Arts. A global university, Carnegie Mellon has campusesin Silicon Valley, Calif., and Qatar, and programs in Asia, Australiaand Europe. For more, see www.cmu.edu.