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.
- Ph.D., Electrical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, 1992
- M.S., Electrical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, 1987
Barry's research investigates the theory of communication in the face of noise and interference and other impediments, with applications ranging from cellular to satellites to magnetic recording. Professor Barry's research program has made fundamental advances in a wide range of disciplines, including optical fiber communications, wireless optical communications, adaptive equalization and synchronization, polar coding, and MIMO detection. Currently he advises graduate students on projects involving transform-domain detection two-dimensional magnetic recording; interference mitigation via adaptive subspace techniques; and cooperation strategies for low-earth-orbit satellite networks.
Barry's teaching centers on core electrical and computer engineering topics, including digital signal processing, random processes, and communication theory at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. His undergraduate signal processing course was the first exposure to engineering for many hundreds of students over the years, where he fosters the analytical and creative methods of engineering through a mixture of classroom lectures and hands-on laboratory experience. His graduate courses lay the foundation for success in the growing array of technologies that involves careful understanding and modeling of randomness, in communications and beyond.
- 1992 David J. Griep Memorial Prize, U.C. Berkeley
- 1993 Eliahu Jury Award from U.C. Berkeley
- 1993 Research Initiation Award from NSF
- 1993 IBM Faculty Development Award
- K. Lee and J. R. Barry, "Ordered Outage and Capacity Metrics for LEO Satellite Mega-Constellations," 2026 IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC 2026), Glasgow, May 2026.
- K. Lee and J. R. Barry, "Opportunistic Power Control for Physical-Layer Security," Milcom 2024, Washington DC, October 28-November 1, 2024.
- K. Lee and J. R. Barry, "Outage Analysis for All Satellites in a Randomly Distributed Constellation," 2024 IEEE 21st Consumer Communications and Networking Conference (CCNC), Las Vegas, January 6-9, 2024.
- K. Lee and J. R. Barry, "Opportunistic Power Control for Low Probability of Detection Communications," Milcom 2022, San Diego, CA, November 28-December 2, 2022.
- Y. Zhang, S Shi, J. R. Barry, "An Adaptive Minimum-Frame-Error-Rate BCJR Detector for Magnetic Recording," IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, 59 (11), 1-5, 2023.