Dr. Barry was born and raised in Tonawanda, N.Y., and attended the nearby State University of New York at Buffalo, where he earned the B.S.E.E. summa cum laude in 1986. He then enrolled at the University of California at Berkeley, where he earned the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in 1987 and 1992, respectively, both in electrical engineering.

His doctoral research explored the feasibility of broadband wireless communications using diffuse infrared radiation. Since 1985 he has held engineering positions in the fields of communications and radar systems at Bell Communications Research, IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, Hughes Aircraft Company, and General Dynamics.

He joined the Georgia Tech faculty in 1992, where his teaching and research efforts are focused on the physical-layer aspects of communication theory. Since 1998 he has split his time between the main campus and the Georgia Tech Lorraine campus in Metz, France.