One of the blessings of being in academia is the opportunity to work with outstanding students. A list of my current and past students is available below. Please click the links to the left if you would like more information about joining me.

Current Graduate Students in the Wireless Systems Innovation Laboratory

Qualifying Celebration Dinner November 2010

Amin Abdel-Khalek Graduate Student Amin Abdel-Khalek is a PhD student in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. He completed his M.E. degree at the American University of Beirut and his B.E. degree at Notre Dame University (with highest distinction). His general research interests are at the intersection of wireless communications, video signal processing, machine learning, and optimization. He pursued research on cooperative communications, statistical QoS provisioning, and radio network planning. His current research focus involves developing learning-based link adaptation algorithms for scalable video transmission under perceptual quality constraints. He plans to establish that P equals NP in time for his retirement to figure out, in polynomial time, the shortest route to travel the world.
Salam Akoum Graduate Student Salam Akoum is a PhD student at the ECE department of the University of Texas at Austin. She graduated with a B.E. in computer and Communications Engineering and a minor in mathematics (Honors) from the American University of Beirut, Lebanon in 2006, and completed her M.S.E.E. at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, in 2008. She joined the WNCG in Fall 2008, to work under the supervision of Prof. Robert W. Heath Jr. in the WSIL group. Outside the office, Salam enjoys reading and talking sports, she dreams of publishing a best-seller novel.
Omar El Ayach Graduate Student Omar Al Ayache is a graduate student at the University of Texas at Austin. He finished his B.E. in Computer and Communication Engineering with high distinction from the American University of Beirut (AUB, class of 2008). His research interests include network information theory and wireless communication. Outside the office, he has a passion for flying and food.
Tianyang Bai Graduate Student Tianyang Bai was born in Harbin, People’s Republic of China. He received his B.E. in communication engineering from Harbin Institute of Technology in 2011. He is now pursuing his master’s degree at the University of Texas at Austin. He likes reading and watching sports in his spare time.
Chao Chen Graduate Student Chao Chen was born in Taiyuan, People’s Republic of China. He received his B.E and M.S degree from Tsinghua University in 2006 and 2009, respectively. He used to conduct research on multi-media processing and distributed source coding (DSC). He began his research on the wireless communications of video when he joined WSIL in 2009. He is now jointly supervised by Prof. Robert Heath and Prof. Alan Bovik. Chao has very broad knowledge in 5 thousands years of Chinese history.
Insoo Hwang Graduate Student Insoo Hwang is a Ph. D student in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin, under the supervision of Prof. Robert W. Heath Jr. He received his M.Sc. degree in Electrical Engineering from University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA and B.Sc degree in Electronics and Electrical Engineering from Pohang University of Science & Technology (POSTECH), Pohang, Korea. His research interests include the general area of wireless communication, space-time processing and multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems. From 2005 to 2007, he was with Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology (SAIT) and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. in Korea, where he investigated MIMO-related physical layer design for the upcoming fourth generation (4G) wireless system and involved standardization activities such as the 3GPP LTE (Long Term Evolution) and WWRF (Wireless World Research Forum). During summer of 2004 he was with the Telecommunications R & D center, LG Electronics Co. Ltd., Anyang, Korea where he studied acquisition and synchronization in EDGE/GPRS. He usually keeps this desk when he is not with his beloved wife.
Sungsoo Kim Graduate student Sungsoo Kim is a Ph.D student in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin, under the supervision of Prof. Robert W. Heath Jr. He received his M.Sc. degree in Electrical Engineering from KAIST, Korea in 2008 and B.Sc degree in Electronics and Electrical Engineering from Yonsei Univ., Korea in 2006. From 2008 to 2011, he was with Telecommunication department, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. in Korea, developing network devices and protocols, embedded into Set-Top-Box to implement communications via DOCSIS2.0/3.0, SNMP and Wi-Fi. His research interests include channel coding and information theory in multi-user considering feedback and relaying.
Namyoon Lee Graduate Student Namyoon Lee is a Ph. D student in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin, under the supervision of Prof. Robert W. Heath Jr. He received his M.Sc. degree in Electrical Engineering from KAIST, Daejeon in 2008 and B.Sc degree in Radio and Communication Engineering from Korea University, Seoul, Korea in 2006. From 2008 to 2011, he was with Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology (SAIT) and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. in Korea, where he investigated next generation device-to-device (D2D) wireless communication systems and involved standardization activities of the 3GPP LTE-A (Long Term Evolution Advanced), especially for femto-cell deployment. His research interests include multi-user and multi-way communication theories using interference alignment, neutralization, and network coding.
Behrang Nosrat Makouei Graduate Student Behrang Nosrat-Makouei received his B.Sc. from Sharif University of Technology (Tehran, Iran) in 2004 and his M.A.Sc. from Simon Fraser University (Burnaby, Canada) in 2008 both at Electrical Engineering. He is currently a member of the WSIL group under the co-supervision of Dr. Heath and Dr. Andrews where he’s working towards his Ph.D. degree. His research interests extend from Medical Image Processing to DSP, MIMO-OFDM(A) systems and relay networks. He enjoys solving major international crisis although he’s not getting paid for it.
Jackson Massey – Graduate Student – Jackson MasseyJackson Massey received his B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin in 2011. He joined the University of Texas Computational Electromagnetics Group in 2009 and the Wireless Systems Innovation Laboratory in 2011. He is currently pursuing a master’s degree under the co-supervision of Professor Robert Heath and Professor Ali Yilmaz. His research interests lie in bridging the fields of wireless communication and electromagnetics specifically focusing on body-area networks. He enjoys living in Austin with the excellent food, music, and outdoor activities.
Ken PesynaKen Pesyna Graduate Student Ken Pesyna is a graduate student pursuing his Master’s and Ph.D. at the University of Texas at Austin. He finished his B.S. in Electrical Engineering with highest distinction from Purdue University in 2009. Ken is currently working under the co-supervision of Dr. Todd Humphreys and Dr. Robert Heath. Ken joined the WSIL group in 2010 and is also a member of the Radionavigation Laboratory. His research interests are in the area of GPS signal processing and wireless communication. Outside the office, he enjoys spending time with his wife, flying model airplanes, and playing music (guitar and oboe).
Steven PetersSteven Peters Graduate Student Steven Peters received B.S. degrees with high honors in electrical engineering and computer engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology in 2005, where he was president of the Delta Chapter of Eta Kappa Nu. He received the M.S.E. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Texas at Austin in 2007. From 2003-2005, he worked at Environmental Systems Design, Inc., designing electrical distribution systems in Chicago sky scrapers. From 2005-2007 he worked at the Applied Research Laboratories, where he studied channel coding and transmit diversity in software-defined HF radios. His current research interests include interference mitigation and multihop cellular networks. He has consulted for a number of leading wireless companies and is currently co-Founder and CEO of Kuma Signals, LLC.
Jonathan Starr looking smug.
Jonathan Starr – Graduate Student Jonathan Starr received his B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Texas at Austin in 2008. He joined WSIL in 2010 and is currently pursuing his master’s under the supervision of Professor Robert Heath. His research interests include finding applications of machine learning and interference alignment to cellular networks.
Kien Trung Truong Graduate Student Kien Truong received his B.S. degree in Electronics & Telecommunications from Hanoi University of Technology in 2002. After graduation, he worked for Department of Wireless Communications in Research Institute of Posts & Telecommunications, Hanoi, Vietnam for 4 years. He received the M.S.E. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Texas at Austin in 2008. He is currently a PhD student at the University of Texas at Austin under the supervision of Prof. Robert W. Heath, Jr. His research interests include relay interference channels, multiple-antenna relay communication, two-way wireless ad-hoc networks, and MIMO system prototyping. He likes playing soccer and table-tennis, reading books and listening to the music.
Nachiappan Valliappan Graduate Student Nachiappan Valliappan is a graduate student with the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at The University of Texas at Austin. He received his Bachelor’s in Electronics and Communication Engineering from the College of Engineering, Guindy (CEG), Anna University, India in 2010. He joined the WNCG in Spring 2011, to work under the supervision of Prof. Robert W. Heath Jr. in the WSIL group. Broadly, his areas of focus in Electrical and Computer Engineering are Wireless Communications and Digital Signal Processing. His research interests span the areas of MIMO-OFDM systems, Spread Spectrum Communications, AMC, Compressive Sensing, Machine Learning, Signal Processing for Cognitive Radio Applications, Pattern Recognition, Speech, Image and Video Coding. He is also interested in the applications of Linear Algebra and Convex Optimization. He enjoys listening to music, reading books and playing cricket.
Le “Will” Wang – Graduate Student – Le “Will” Wang received his Bachelor’s in Electrical Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin in 2011. He is pursuing a master’s degree under the supervision of Prof. Robert W. Heath Jr. He joined the WNCG and WSIL in 2012, and is currently conducting a research in interference alignment and management. Broadly, his research interests include wireless communication, networks, image processing, and adaptive control. He enjoys photography, traveling, and watching movies (especially film noir) in his spare time.

Current Postdoctoral Researchers

Randa Zakhour joined WSIL as a postdoctoral researcher in 2012. She received her B.E. in Computer and Communications Engineering degree from the American University of Beirut, Lebanon in 2002. In June 2006, she received her M.Sc. in Communications engineering from RWTH Aachen, Germany. She obtained her Ph.D. degree in Electronics and Communications from Telecom ParisTech in April 2010, and was a research fellow at the Electrical and Electronic Engineering department of the University of Melbourne in 2011. Her research interests include signal processing, optimization, and feedback, resource allocation and cooperation issues in multicell multi-user MIMO systems.

Former Graduate Students in the Wireless Systems Innovation Laboratory

Former Postdoctoral Researchers

  • Kyung Seung Ahn, Ph.D.
  • Jihoon Choi, Ph.D.
    - Faculty at the Korea Aerospace University
  • Keul-Chung Hwang, Ph.D.
  • Myonghee Park, Ph.D.
  • Seijoon Shim, Ph.D.

Former Visiting Graduate Students

Former Undergraduate Students

  • Navanit Arakeri (Fall 2002, Spring 2003)
    • Attended graduate school at Stanford
  • Ashwin Giridharagopoal
    • Worked on Dell antenna design project
  • Shrut Kirti (Spring 2005)
    • Undergraduate RA, GLUE, attended grad school at Cornell
  • Brian Mechler
    • Worked on Dell antenna design project
  • Charles Shoubing (Fall 2005)
    • Independent research
  • Jason Soric (Fall 2005 – Spring 2006)
    • Independent research
  • Frank Sun
    • Worked on Dell antenna design project
  • Alex Tsanakov (Fall 2002)
    • VIGRE project, attended MIT to pursue M.S. / Ph.D.
  • Gordon Wan
    • Worked on Dell antenna design project
  • Daniel Zitrick
    • Worked on 60GHz project
  • Greg Van Westen
    • Worked on 60GHz project
  • Steve Cho
  • Tae-Ho Lee
  • Michael McCoy
  • Jackson Massey
  • Andre Esteva
  • Blake Levy
  • Kelly Cook
  • Phillip Andrade
  • Joshua Gantt
  • Sahil Jain
  • Justin Ly
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