Julio E. Ibarra, PhD, is Research Professor in the Knight Foundation School of Computer Science in the College of Engineering and Computing, and the Assistant Vice President for Technology Augmented Research, in the Division of IT, at Florida International University (FIU). Dr. Ibarra is responsible for furthering the mission of the Center for Internet Augmented Research and Assessment (CIARA) – to contribute to the pace and the quality of research at FIU through the application of advanced Cyberinfrastructure. Under his leadership and stewardship, NSF has funded the AMPATH International Exchange Point and the Americas Lightpaths (AmLight) network in its portfolio of international science cyberinfrastructure. AMPATH provides its international research and education network connectors with access to U.S. production and experimental backbone networks, such as Internet2 and ESnet, to facilitate international science research and education collaborations. AmLight is an international network backbone that interconnects the research and education networks in the U.S. with peer networks in Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa. Dr. Ibarra’s research interests include Software Defined Networks, Autonomic Network Architectures, Network Automation, and Network Control and Management.