He has received honorary degrees and awards that include the National Medal of Technology , [ 2 ] the Turing Award , [ 11 ] the Presidential Medal of Freedom , [ 12 ] the Marconi Prize , and membership in the National Academy of Engineering.
While in high school, Cerf worked at Rocketdyne on the Apollo program for six months and helped write statistical analysis software for the non-destructive tests of the F-1 engines. Cerf received a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics from Stanford University. Cerf and his wife Sigrid both have hearing deficiencies; they met at a hearing aid agent's practice in the s, [ 19 ] leading him to advocate for accessibility.
They later joined a Methodist church and had two sons, David and Bennett. Cerf is active in a number of global humanitarian organizations. Since Cerf lobbied for the privatization of the internet. Cerf served as the first president of ISOC. In this role, he helped to guide corporate strategy development from a technical perspective. Previously, he served as MCI's senior vice president of Architecture and Technology, leading a team of architects and engineers to design advanced networking frameworks, including Internet-based solutions for delivering a combination of data, information, voice and video services for business and consumer use.
During , Cerf joined the board of trustees of Gallaudet University , a university for the education of the deaf and hard-of-hearing. MCI refused to terminate the spamware vendor. Cerf has served as a commissioner for the Broadband Commission for Digital Development , a UN body which aims to make broadband internet technologies more widely available [ 43 ]. He joined the board in and served until November He is also a member of the advisory board of Eurasia Group , the political risk consultancy.
On February 7, , Cerf testified before the U. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 's hearing on net neutrality.
