Rüdiger Urbanke

Also known as Rudiger L. Urbanke, Ruediger L. Urbanke

Rüdiger Urbanke is an information theorist at EPFL whose research on error-correcting codes extends to the theoretical foundations of machine learning. After a degree at the Vienna University of Technology in 1990 and a PhD in electrical engineering at Washington University in 1995, he worked at Bell Labs until 1999 and then joined EPFL. In 2001 he coauthored papers on low-density parity-check codes, and the book Modern Coding Theory, which he coauthored, appeared from Cambridge University Press in 2008. He received the 2014 IEEE Hamming Medal, served as President of the IEEE Information Theory Society in 2017, and won the 2023 Shannon Award. From 2021 to 2025 he was Dean of EPFL's School of Computer and Communication Sciences, and he is a Full Professor in EPFL's Communication Theory Laboratory.

Now at: EPFL
Born: 1966
Badges: Bridge

Years link to their sources.

Timeline

1985–1999

From Vienna to Bell Labs

He earns his Dipl. Ing. at the Vienna University of Technology in 1990, and a Fulbright Scholarship brings him to Washington University in St. Louis, where he completes an M.Sc. in 1992 and a PhD in electrical engineering in 1995 under Bixio Rimoldi. From 1995 to 1999, he works in the Mathematics of Communications Department at Bell Labs, and in 1999 he arrives at EPFL.
2001–2008

LDPC codes and a textbook

In 2001, he coauthors two papers in IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, one on the capacity of low-density parity-check codes under message-passing decoding with T. J. Richardson and one on the design of capacity-approaching irregular low-density parity-check codes with Richardson and M. A. Shokrollahi. The capacity paper wins the 2002 IEEE Information Theory Society Paper Award. The book Modern Coding Theory, written with Richardson, appears from Cambridge University Press in 2008.
2009–2017

President of the Information Theory Society

From 2009 to 2012, he heads the I&C Doctoral School at EPFL, and in 2013 he serves as Dean of I&C. In 2017, he is President of the IEEE Information Theory Society.
2013–2014

A paper award and Hamming Medal

A 2013 IEEE Information Theory Society Paper Award recognizes "Threshold Saturation via Spatial Coupling: Why Convolutional LDPC Ensembles Perform So Well over the BEC", a paper he coauthored. In 2014, he receives the IEEE Richard W. Hamming Medal.
2020–2021

Theory of neural networks

In 2020, a paper with Grzegorz Głuch, "Query complexity of adversarial attacks", gives a lower bound on the number of queries an adversary needs for an attack comparable to the best white-box attack, in terms of the entropy of the classifier's decision boundaries. Their 2021 paper "Noether: The More Things Change, the More Stay the Same" studies how symmetry in neural networks restricts the path of gradient descent.
2021–2025

Dean of the IC school

In September 2021, he succeeds James Larus as the 4th Dean of EPFL's School of Computer and Communication Sciences (IC). During his four years in office, IC faculty take part in launching the AI Center, the Swiss AI Initiative and the Swiss National AI Center, and in creating the large language models Meditron and Apertus.
2023

The 2023 Shannon Award

The IEEE Information Theory Society names him the recipient of the 2023 Claude E. Shannon Award for his contributions to the field of information theory. The IEEE also gives him the 2023 Leon K. Kirchmayer Graduate Teaching Award for his teaching of graduate students.
As of October 2026

Professor at EPFL

In September 2025, he hands the IC Key to Sabine Süsstrunk, the 5th Dean, and says he looks forward to a sabbatical and to restarting research collaborations across the globe. He is a Full Professor in EPFL's Communication Theory Laboratory, where his research covers error-correcting codes for classical and quantum communication and the theoretical foundations of modern machine learning.