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.
Ahmed Alkhateeb Graduate Student Ahmed A. N. Alkhateeb is a PhD student in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. He finished his B.Sc. in Electronics and Electrical Communications Engineering (distinction with honor), and his M.Sc. in Electrical Communications Engineering from Cairo University in 2008, and 2012 respectively. His research interests include multi-user information theory, communication theory, and space-time coding.
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.
Talha Ahmed Khan Graduate Student Talha Ahmed Khan joined the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin in 2012. He is currently pursuing his masters under the supervision of Prof. Robert Heath. Talha received B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering with Honours from University of Engineering and Technology(UET) Lahore in 2010. His research interests span cooperative wireless networks, wireless communications, coding and information theory. He aspires to pursue a research-oriented academic career as his ultimate goal is to make significant contributions to the research world.
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.
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 also co-Founder and CEO of Kuma Signals, LLC.
Vancouver Island
Andrew Thornburg Graduate student Andrew Thornburg received his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh in 2010. He joined WSIL in 2012 after working at Edwards AFB, California as an electronic warfare engineer. He is currently pursuing his master’s. His research interests include mobile ad-hoc networks, vehicular networks and wireless security. In his spare time, Andrew enjoys photography, hiking, and simple relaxation.

Current Postdoctoral Researchers

None at present.

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.
  • Randa Zakhour, 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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