Wayne Stark

Professor, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Michigan

Wayne Stark received his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois in 1982 and joined U-M shortly after as a Professor of EECS. His research focuses on topics related to wireless communication systems including spread-spectrum modulation, error control coding, adaptive coded-modulation, facing, multiple-access, jamming, and handoff algorithms. He was an Associate Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Communications from 1985-1989. He received a national Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator Award in 1985, was a member of the Board of Governors of the IEEE Information Theory Society from 1986-1988., and became an IEEE Fellow in 1998.

Mingyan Liu

Peter and Evelyn Fuss Chair of Electrical and Computer Engineering Professor, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Michigan

Mingyan Liu is professor and Peter and Evelyn Fuss Chair of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Her research interests are in optimal resource allocation, sequential decision theory, incentive design, and performance modeling and analysis, all within the context of large-scale networked systems. Her most recent research activities involve cyber risk quantification and designing cybersecurity incentive mechanisms using large-scale Internet measurement data and machine learning techniques. She co-founded the company QuadMetrics, Inc. in 2014, which was acquired by the analytics software firm FICO in 2016. Among other honors, she is the recipient of an NSF CAREER Award, the College of Engineering Excellence in Education Award, and the Distinguished University Innovator Award. She is a Fellow of the IEEE and a member of the ACM.

Amer A. Hassan

Senior Director- Microsoft

Amer A. Hassan received his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in Electrical Engineering Systems, in Dec 1988. His graduate research focused on error control coding and applications. Since then, Amer worked at GE R&D and Ericsson R&D as research manager for emerging wireless systems. He was an Adjunct Professor at North Carolina State University where he taught coding theory. Amer joined Microsoft Windows Networking in June 2000 as Wireless Architect. He then joined the Skype for Business and Microsoft Teams working on business voice in Teams. Amer co-founded several industry alliances focusing on connectivity technologies and has been active in driving spectrum sharing in white spaces. He served on the Board of Directors for High-Speed Wireless Center in Lund University and represented Microsoft on the Wi-Fi Alliance Board of Directors 2001-2019. He also has been an adjunct/affiliate professor at the University of Washington for the past 18 years.

Brian Woerner

Professor – Lane Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering

Brian Woerner is a native of Indiana. He received degrees from Purdue University (B.S. Computer & Electrical Engineering, 1986) and the University of Michigan (M.S. Electrical Engineering Systems, 1987; Ph.D. Electrical Engineering Systems, 1991; Master of Public Policy, 1992). From 1991 through 2004, Dr. Woerner was on the faculty of Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, where he taught and conducted research in the field of wireless communications, making contributions to the development of error correction coding, interference cancellation, adaptive antennas and geolocation for Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) systems.  In 2004, Dr. Woerner became the Department Chair of the Lane Department of Computer Science & Electrical Engineering at West Virginia University (WVU), and the first recipient of Lane Professorship.  He served in that role for 15 years. Dr. Woerner is currently a Professor at WVU, where he teaches and conducts research in the fields of communications, networking, cybersecurity, and autonomous vehicles.   He has been married to beloved wife Cathy since 1988, and together they have two children:  Stephen and Teresa.

Dennis Goeckel

Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Massachusetts – Amherst

Dennis Goeckel received his BS from Purdue University in 1992, and his MS and PhD from the University of Michigan in 1993 and 1996, respectively. Since 1996, he has been with the ECE Department at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where he is currently a Professor. Prof. Goeckel has been a Lilly Teaching Fellow (2000-2001) and received the University of Massachusetts Distinguished Teaching Award in 2007. His work with a group on covert communications (Nature Communications, Oct. 2015) received an NSA Honorable Mention Award for Best Scientific Cybersecurity Paper, 2016. He received the NSF CAREER Award in 1999 and is an IEEE Fellow for “contributions to wireless communication systems and networks.

Manju Hegde

CEO and Cofounder- Uhnder Inc

Academic excellence in engineering, entrepreneurial maturity, and corporate leadership serve Uhnder CEO and Cofounder Manju Hegde well as he leads Uhnder’s mission to make the world safe for the automation of mobility. Manju was instrumental in Uhnder’s pioneering the industry’s first digital radar, combining digital coded modulation (DCM), complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology, and advanced digital processing techniques to position the company as a leader in automation, autonomy, and safety for mobility. Prior to founding Uhnder in 2015, Manju cofounded other successful semiconductor companies, including Celox Networks, an industry-leading edge router provider, where he served as CTO; and AGEIA Technologies, which he led as CEO until it was acquired by NVIDIA in 2008. AGEIA’s real-time physics engine, PhysX, has made hundreds of games and real-time simulations more immersive for millions of people. He subsequently served as VP and General Manager of CUDA at NVIDIA and as Corporate VP at AMD where he led the Applications Engineering team and founded AMD Ventures. Manju has published more than 150 technical papers and is an inventor on more than 25 patents. He served 17 years as a university professor in electrical engineering with his last two tenures at Washington University in St. Louis and as Chairman of the Electrical Engineering Department at Louisiana State University. He earned his PhD in computer, information and control engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; an MBA in finance from the University of Mumbai; and a B. Tech. degree in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay.

Sang Wu Kim

Associate Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Iowa State University

Sang Wu Kim earned his BS in electronic engineering at Yonsei University, Korea, and MS in electrical engineering at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST). He came to the United States on a Fulbright Graduate Study Award and earned a PhD in electrical engineering at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He is currently an associate professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Iowa State University (ISU), Ames. Before joining ISU, he was a faculty member in the Department of Electrical Engineering at KAIST, a visiting faculty member at the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, and a technical consultant with the Wireless Systems Research Department at AT&T Labs in Middletown, NJ. His research interests are primarily in the areas of wireless communications and security. He received the Best Paper Award at the IEEE International Symposium on Spread Spectrum Techniques and Applications, New Jersey, 2000, and the IEEE International Conference on Mobile Ad-hoc and Sensor Systems (MASS), Washington DC, 2005. He also received the Warren B. Boast Teaching Award, Iowa State University, in 2009. He served as Co-Chair of IEEE Globecom, Communication Theory Symposium 2013, and Publications Chair of IEEE WCNC 2017. He is currently serving as Editor of IEEE Communications Surveys and Tutorials.

Tingfang Ji

Sr. Director of Engineering Qualcomm

Senior Director, Qualcomm Wireless R&D
PhD in Electrical Engineering Systems, June 2001

Tingfang Ji joined Qualcomm in 2003 and is currently a Senior Director of engineering in Wireless R&D.
From 2003 to 2014, he made instrumental technical contributions towards the development of LTE/LTEA technology and served as a vice chairman of the radio working group of 3GPP. Since 2014 he led the
flagship 5G research project for Qualcomm’s 5G NR air interface design/standardization, sub 6GHz
IODT/trials, experimental macro networks, and long-term pre-6G research. His current research
interests include coding/modulation, full duplex massive MIMO, precise positioning and sensing, ML
enabled air interface, IOT services, and low latency edge computation. Before joining Qualcomm,
Tingfang was a member of the technical staff at Bell Labs. As an inventor, he has more than 1000 US
patent applications.

Y. -P. Eric Wang

Principal Researcher Ericsson Research

Y.-P. Eric Wang is a Principal Researcher and Technical Coordinator at Ericsson Research for IoT
connectivity related research and standardization.
He served as an Associate Editor for IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology from 2003 to 2007. Eric is a co-author of the book “Cellular Internet of Things: From Massive Deployments to Critical 5G Applications”. He has contributed to over 200 U.S. patents and more than 50 IEEE articles about wireless communications and in 2006 he received the Ericsson Inventor of the Year award.