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SIG News

2022

Summer 2022

Liu Featured in IEEE Journal of Microwaves
An article about Distinguished University Professor and Christine Kim Eminent Professor of Information Technology K.J. Ray Liu has been published in the July 2022 edition of The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers’ (IEEE) Journal of Microwaves. More...

2021

Fall 2021

Johannes Thorsteinsson and Haitao (Heather) Zheng Named 2021 ECE Distinguished Alumni
Former SIG members, Johannes Thorsteinsson and Haitao (Heather) Zheng were awarded the ECE Distinguished Alumni Awards in November 2021. This winter the ECE Department inducted the 2021 class of distinguished alumni for their leadership and meritorious contributions to the field of engineering, their humanitarian efforts, and the application of their engineering education to other disciplines. Dr. Thorsteinsson and Dr. Zheng were advised by Distinguished University Professor K. J. Ray Liu at the University of Maryland. More...
Alumnus Matthew Stamm Named to Popular Science’s Brilliant 10 of 2021 List
Alumnus Matthew Stamm (Ph.D. 2012) has been selected from among hundreds of successful early-career scientists and engineers as one of Popular Science’s “Brilliant 10 of 2021.” This annual award recognizes the most innovative researchers who are discovering new approaches to a variety of cross-disciplinary challenges, including climate change, clean water, surgical pathology and adaptive technology. Dr. Stamm’s research, entitled “Dusting for Fingerprints to Find Deepfakes,” addresses the increasing problem of alterations to digital objects through AI. More..

Summer 2021

Liu co-authors book, "Reciprocity, Evolution, and Decision Games in Network and Data Science"
Distinguished University Professor K.J. Ray Liu has co-authored a book entitled Reciprocity, Evolution, and Decision Games in Network and Data Science, published by Cambridge University Press. Written with graduate students and researchers in networking, communications and signal processing in mind, this book provides a broad understanding of evolutionary games, indirect reciprocity and sequential decision making by describing applications of game-theoretic models in real world systems, including wireless and social networks. More..
Dr. Liu Receives Distinguished Alumni Award from National Taiwan University
Electrical and Computer Engineering Professor K.J. Ray Liu has been named a 2021 Distinguished Alumni of National Taiwan University by the University’s Alumni Selection Committee. He has received the award for “outstanding research performance in the field of international electrical and electronics, and for outstanding contributions to leading the innovation and development of IEEE and the global academic community and industrial advancement.” More..
Dr. Liu and Graduate Students Win Best Student Paper at WF-IoT 2021
Electrical and Computer Engineering Professor K.J. Ray Liu and graduate students Yuqian Hu, Beibei Wang, and Chenshu Wu recently won the Best Paper award for their paper, “Universal Virtual Keyboard Using 60 GHz mmWave Radar” at IEEE’s 7th World Forum on Internet of Things (WF-IoT 2021). The event was held in an online/in-person format June 14-July 31 in New Orleans, Louisiana. More..

Spring 2021

Origin Wireless Wins Two 2021 CES Awards, Including Best Innovation Award
Origin Wireless AI, a high-tech startup led by Distinguished University Professor K.J. Ray Liu, recently won the CES 2021 Best Innovation Award for the company’s Health Remote Patient Monitoring (Origin RPM), an innovative software and hardware solution that allows caregivers to monitor their patients without wearable devices, cameras or other devices to help provide privacy. The CES Innovation Awards program, owned and produced by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA)®, is an annual competition honoring outstanding design and engineering in consumer technology products across 28 product categories. CES 2021 was held virtually, January 11-14. More..

2020

Fall 2020

Professor Ray Liu Awarded 2020 IEEE IoT Journal Best Paper Award
Distinguished University Professor and Christine Kim Eminent Professor of Information Technology K. J. Ray Liu has been awarded the 2020 IEEE Internet of Things (IoT) Journal Best Paper Award for his work titled “WiSpeed: A Statistical Electromagnetic Approach for Device-Free Indoor Speed Estimation.” Co-authors on the paper include Feng Zhang, Chen Chen, and Beibei Wang. The IEEE IoT Journal is ranked a top ten journal, with an impact factor of about 10, over 266 journals in Electrical and Electronic Engineering by the Journal Citation Reports from the Web of Science Group that analyzes the influence and impact of scholarly research publications. More..
Dr. Liu’s Dialog with China Science Daily
In October 2020, the world's most authoritative organization of electronic technology and information science engineers, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) elected Professor K. J. Ray Liu of the University of Maryland as the 2021 IEEE President-Elect. Dr. Liu will serve as President in 2022, the first ethnic Chinese selected for this position in IEEE's 140-year history. Recently, Dr. Liu accepted the interview invitation from China Science Daily, the most well-known science media in Chinese research institutes. More..
Dr. Liu Wins 2021 IEEE Fourier Award for Signal Processing
Distinguished University Professor and Christine Kim Eminent Professor of Information Technology K.J. Ray Liu, has been named the recipient of the 2021 IEEE Fourier Award for Signal Processing, an IEEE Technical Field Award, “for outstanding leadership in and pioneering contributions to signal processing for wireless sensing and communications.” For nearly a century, the IEEE Awards Program has paid tribute to technical professionals whose exceptional achievements and outstanding contributions have made a lasting impact on technology, society, and the engineering profession. The IEEE Fourier Award for Signal Processing was established in 2012, and is sponsored by the IEEE Signal Processing Society and the IEEE Circuits and Systems Society. The award recognizes an individual or a team of people for outstanding contributions to the advancement of signal processing, other than in the areas of speech and audio processing. Liu will receive a bronze medal, certificate, and cash prize for this honor. More...
Dr. Liu Elected to Lead IEEE
Professor K.J. Ray Liu has been elected by Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Members as the 2021 IEEE President-Elect. As the first University of Maryland faculty member elected to head IEEE, he will begin serving as IEEE President on January 1, 2022. IEEE is the world's largest technical professional organization dedicated to advancing technology for the benefit of humanity. IEEE and its members inspire a global community to innovate for a better tomorrow through its more than 420,000 members in more than 160 countries, and its highly cited publications, conferences, technology standards, and professional and educational activities. More...
Jie Chen Named 2020 ECE Distinguished Alumni
Former SIG member, Jie Chen was awarded the 2020 Distinguished Alumni Award in Octorber 2020 for his accomplishments and impressive contributions to the field. This prestigious award is presented annually to the University of Maryland alumni for their leadership and meritorious contributions to the field of engineering, their humanitarian efforts, and the application of their engineering education to other disciplines. Dr. Chen was advised by Distinguished University Professor K.J. Ray Liu at the University of Maryland. More...

2019

Winter 2019

Dr. Liu named National Academy of Inventors Fellow
Professor K.J. Ray Liu has been named 2019 Fellow by the National Academy of Inventors (NAI), joining the ranks of some of the nation’s most prestigious and creative academic inventors. According to the NAI, its Fellows Program “highlights academic inventors who have demonstrated a spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on quality of life, economic development and the welfare of society.” Data collected by NAI shows that NAI Fellows hold more than 41,500 issued U.S. patents, which have generated over 11,000 licensed technologies and companies, and created more than 36 million jobs. Also, over $1.6 trillion in revenue has been generated based on NAI Fellow discoveries. The 2019 Fellows represent 136 research universities and governmental and non-profit research institutes worldwide and they collectively hold over 3,500 issued U.S. patents. Among the 2019 Fellows are six recipients of the U.S. National Medal of Technology & Innovation or U.S. National Medal of Science and four Nobel Laureates. More...

Fall 2019

Chunxiao Jiang Granted NSFC Excellent Young Scientists Fund
Former SIG member, Chunxiao Jiang received the Excellent Young Scientists Fund from NSFC (National Natural Science Foundation of China). This fund supports young scholars with good achievements in basic research to conduct innovative research in areas of their own choice, so as to promote fast growth of creative young talents and foster a number of outstanding talents on the international science frontiers.

Summer 2019

Dr. Liu Named Distinguished University Professor
Professor K.J. Ray Liu has been awarded a 2019 Distinguished University Professor Award. This award is the highest honor that can be achieved by a tenured faculty member in recognition of not just their excellence in teaching, but also of their significant contributions, both domestically and internationally, to their field of expertise and the distinction it has brought to the University of Maryland. This highly selective award is granted to only 7% of tenured faculty. More...

Spring 2019

Muhammed Zahid Ozturk Named Distinguished Teaching Assistant
Our SIG member, Muhammed Zahid Ozturk has been recognized as an Outstanding Teaching Assistant by the Department of ECE for the 2018-2019 academic year. Award winners were selected based on their hard work, as well as outstanding teaching evaluations and supporting comments on their efforts in making a great contribution to the excellence of undergraduate and graduate education.
An-YEU (Andy) Wu Named 2019 ECE Distinguished Alumni
Former SIG member, An-YEU (Andy) Wu, was awarded the ECE Distinguished Alumni Awards in May 2019. This spring the ECE Department inducted the 2019 class of distinguished alumni for their leadership and meritorious contributions to the field of engineering, their humanitarian efforts, and the application of their engineering education to other disciplines. Dr. Wu was advised by Christine Kim Eminent Professor K. J. Ray Liu at the University of Maryland. More...

2018

Fall 2018

Alumnus Yan Sun Named IEEE Fellow
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) has elevated alumnus Yan Sun (EE Ph.D. 2004) to the rank of Fellow. She is being recognized for "contributions to trust modeling and statistical signal processing for cyber-physical security."More...

Winter 2018

Clark School Researchers Recognized Among "World's Most Influential Scientific Minds"
Christine Kim Eminent Professor of Information Technology K. J. Ray Liu (ECE) has been named to the 2017 Highly Cited Researchers list by Clarivate Analytics. These researchers have distinguished themselves by publishing a high number of papers that rank in the top 1% most-cited in their respective fields over a recent 11-year period, according to Clarivate Analytics. Such consistent production of highly cited reports indicates that the work of these researchers has been repeatedly judged by their peers to be of notable significance and utility. More...

2017

Fall 2017

Clarivate Analytics Names K. J. Ray Liu to Highly Cited Researchers List for 2017
Christine Kim Eminent Professor of Information Technology K. J. Ray Liu (ECE) has been named to the 2017 Highly Cited Researcher List in the Computer Science Category published annually by Clarivate Analytics, the global leader in providing trusted insights and analytics to enable researchers to accelerate discovery, and formerly the Intellectual Property & Science business of Thomson Reuters.More...
Origin Wireless’s TRM Technology and Origin & Bot System Wins 2017 CEATEC Grand Prix Award.
Earlier this month, Christine Kim Eminent Professor of Information Technology and Distinguished Scholar-Teacher K. J. Ray Liu’s startup Origin Wireless (Origin) unveiled their Time Reversal Machine (TRM) Technology and Origin & Bot System at the Combined Exhibition of Advanced Technologies (CEATEC) at Makuhari Messe in Chiba, Japan. Origin won the 2017 CEATEC Grand Prix Award, a very prestigious recognition for their product’s innovativeness and potential influence on the US market. More...
Liu Elected 2018 IEEE Technical Activities Vice President.
Christine Kim Eminent Professor of Information Technology and Distinguished Scholar-Teacher K. J. Ray Liu has been elected as the 2018 IEEE Technical Activities Vice President-Elect, which will oversee 50+ societies/councils within IEEE. The voting membership of IEEE annually elects officers that serve on the top-tier IEEE governing bodies. The candidates are drawn from recommendations made by divisional and regional nominating committee. More...
UMD Professor's Startup Overcomes Challenges of Indoor Positioning Systems.
We are well accustomed to the benefits of GPS technology in our lives, but we are also familiar with its limitations. Precision location is easily identified outdoors, but not within indoor spaces, such as malls, museums, hospitals, academic buildings, and office spaces. The potential and possibilities of indoor positioning systems have been studied by researchers and technicians all over the world. However, the technical difficulties of creating an indoor positioning technology with pinpoint accuracy have puzzled the industry for over 30 years.
At the University of Maryland, Christine Kim Eminent Professor of Information Technology and Distinguished Scholar-Teacher K. J. Ray Liu has launched a startup called Origin Wireless, Inc. to address these challenges. Using a revolutionary smart radio platform technology, Origin Wireless, Inc. is breaking down barriers to indoor positioning systems.
More on UMD ECE and UMD Division of Research.

Spring 2017

Liu Gives Plenary Keynote Speech at ICASSP 2017.
Christine Kim Eminent Professor of Information Technology K. J. Ray Liu (ECE) delivered a plenary keynote at the 42nd IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing (ICASSP 2017), in New Orleans, Louisiana, on March 7. ICASSP is the premier international conference on signal processing and has an attendance of about 2500. Dr. Liu spoke on "Smart Radios for Smart Life." He also presented the world's first ever centimeter-accuracy wireless indoor positioning systems that can offer indoor GPS-like capability to track human or any indoor objects without any infrastructure, as long as WiFi or LTE is available. More...
Alumnus Peng Qiu Granted Tenure at Georgia Tech.
Alumnus Peng Qiu (Ph.D. EE, 2007), has received tenure as an Associate Professor at Georgia Institute of Technology, where he teaches in the Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering. He was advised by Christine Kim Eminent Professor of Information Technology K. J. Ray Liu at the University of Maryland. Qiu graduated with a Ph.D. from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, completing his studies in 2007. He joined the Georgia Tech faculty in 2013 after holding a faculty position at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center for three years. Qiu won a 2016 NSF CAREER Award for "Experimental Design and Model Reduction in Systems Biology." More...

Winter 2017

Liu Wins 2016 IEEE Signal Processing Society Meritorious Service Award.
Christine Kim Eminent Professor of Information Technology K. J. Ray Liu (ECE) has been selected to receive the 2016 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Signal Processing Society Meritorious Service Award for exemplary service to and leadership in the Signal Processing Society. More...

2016

Fall 2016

Alumnus Matthew C. Stamm Wins NSF CAREER Award.
Alumnus Matthew C. Stamm (Ph.D. EE '12), who was advised during his Ph.D. studies by Christine Kim Eminent Professor K. J. Ray Liu, is the recipient of a 2016 National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award for "Scaling Forensic Algorithms for Big Data and Adversarial Environments." The five-year award is worth $583,577. More...

Spring 2016

Chen, Yi, Yan and Hung-Quoc Win Best Paper Award.
Graduate students Chen Chen and Yi Han, alumni Yan Chen (Ph.D. EE '11) and Hung-Quoc Lai (Ph.D. EE '11), and their advisor Christine Yurie Kim Eminent Professor of Information Technology K. J. Ray Liu have received the 2016 Best Student Paper Award at the IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing (ICASSP). The paper, entitled "High Accuracy Indoor Localization: A WiFi-Based Approach," presents the authors' work to create a positioning system which can achieve centimeter-level localization precision under non-line-of-sight conditions. More...
Alumnus Peng Qiu Wins NSF CAREER Award.
Alumnus Peng Qiu (Ph.D. EE, 2007), who was advised during his Ph.D. studies by Christine Kim Eminent Professor K. J. Ray Liu, is the recipient of a 2016 National Science Foundation (NSF) Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award for "Experimental Design and Model Reduction in Systems Biology." The NSF CAREER program fosters the career development of outstanding junior faculty, combining the support of research and education of the highest quality and in the broadest sense. More...

2015

Fall 2015

Alumnus Jie Chen Elevated to IEEE Fellow.
ECE alumnus Jie Chen was elevated to Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. The highest grade of membership, IEEE Fellow, is attained through nomination by peers and approval by the IEEE Board of Directors for distinction in the profession. Chen was recognized for contributions to low-power and biomedical ultrasound circuits and devices. He was advised by Christine Kim Eminent Professor K. J. Ray Liu at the University of Maryland. Chen graduated with both his M.S. and Ph.D. from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, completing his studies in 1998. More...
Liu and Alumna Wang Win 2015 SPS Overview Paper Award.
Christine Kim Eminent Professor of Information Technology K. J. Ray Liu and Beibei Wang (Ph.D. '09), Liu's former advisee, received the 2015 Signal Processing Society Overview Paper Award for their work entitled, "Advances in Cognitive Radio Networks: A Survey." The Overview Paper Award honors the author(s) of a journal article of broad interest that has had substantial impact over several years on a subject related to the IEEE Signal Processing Society's technical scope. More...
Balaji Sampath Honored at Fourth ECE Distinguished Alumni Awards
Former SIG member, Balaji Sampath, was awarded the Fourth ECE Distinguished Alumni Awards. This fall ECE honored four alumni for their leadership and meritorious contributions to the field of engineering, their humanitarian efforts, and the application of their engineering education to other disciplines. Balaji Sampath was advised by Christine Kim Eminent Professor K. J. Ray Liu at the University of Maryland. More...
Liu Awarded 2016 IEEE Kirchmayer Graduate Teaching Award.
Christine Kim Eminent Professor of Information Technology K. J. Ray Liu has been awarded the 2016 IEEE Leon K. Kirchmayer Graduate Teaching award for inspirational teaching and mentoring of graduate students. The citation reads, "For exemplary teaching and curriculum development, inspirational mentoring of graduate students, and broad educational impact in signal processing and communications."
Here is his Kirchmayer award acceptance speech:
    I have been so fortunate to have had so many outstanding young minds, who came as students, postdocs, or young colleagues, to enrich my academic journey.
    What I have been doing was to pick up seemingly ugly mine stones, keep polishing them until they reveal themselves as a gem and shine in their own rights.
    This reminds me that I was once an ugly stone myself. It took many to polish and craft this stone until it can stand up here.
    Therefore I would like to dedicate this to all those stone crafters and polishers, who educate a new generation of engineers and scientists, to make this world a better place.
More...
Jie Chen Wins the 2015 Killam Annual Professorship Award.
ECE alumni Jie Chen is a 2015 recipient of the Killam Annual Professorship Award. The Killam Annual Professorship was established in 1991 and is one of the most prestigious awards granted to professors at Canadian universities; Chen is one of five to receive the 2015 award at the University of Alberta. The award recognizes faculty members based on the quality of their scholarly activities including teaching, research, publications, creative activities, presented papers, and supervision of graduate students. Chen was advised by Christine Kim Eminent Professor K. J. Ray Liu at the University of Maryland. More...

Spring 2015

Liu Named Distinguished Chair Professor by National Taiwan University
Dr. K. J. Ray Liu, Christine Yurie Kim Eminent Professor of Information Technology in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, has been named Distinguished Chair Professor (honorary) by his alma mater, National Taiwan University, where he received a B.S. in 1983, for his accomplishments in research, education, and leadership. More...

2014

Fall 2014

Liu Wins IEEE SPS Society Award
Christine Yurie Kim Eminent Professor of Information Technology K. J. Ray Liu (ECE) has been awarded the highest honor that the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Signal Processing Society (SPS) bestows, known as the Society Award. He was recognized "for influential technical contributions and profound leadership impact." More...
An-Yeu (Andy) Wu and Haitao (Heather) Zheng Elevated to IEEE Fellow
ECE alumni An-Yeu (Andy) Wu and Haitao (Heather) Zheng were elevated to Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. The highest grade of membership, IEEE Fellow, is attained through nomination by peers and approval by the IEEE Board of Directors for distinction in the profession. Wu was recognized for contributions to DSP algorithms and VLSI designs for communications IC/SoC. Zheng received this honor for contributions to dynamic spectrum access and cognitive radio networks. Wu and Zheng were both advised by Christine Kim Eminent Professor K. J. Ray Liu at the University of Maryland. More...
Liu Elected to IEEE Board of Directors
Christine Yurie Kim Distinguished Professor K. J. Ray Liu was recently elected to the IEEE Board of Directors. IEEE, the world's largest technical professional society, is designed to serve professionals involved in all aspects of the electrical, electronic, and computing fields and related areas of science and technology that underlie modern civilization. Liu will serve as the Division IX Director representing the following IEEE societies: IEEE Signal Processing Society, IEEE Information Theory Society, etc. More...
Liu Delivers Keynote at INTERSPEECH 2014
Christine Yurie Kim Eminent Professor of Information Technology K. J. Ray Liu delivered a keynote speech at the 15th Annual Conference of the International Speech Communication Association (INTERSPEECH 2014) in Singapore. Held on September 14-18, INTERSPEECH aimed to promote research and education on speech communication science and technology. Liu's talk was titled, "Decision Learning in Data Science: Where John Nash Meets Social Media", and discussed the growing need to bridge machine/social learning with strategic decision making. More...

Spring 2014

Wade Trappe Receives the 2014 ECE Distinguished Alumni Award
Former SIG member, Wade Trappe, professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at Rutgers University, has received the 2014 ECE Distinguished Alumni Award. This prestigious award is presented annually to alumni who have provided leadership and meritorious contributions in the broad field of engineering. There will be an award ceremony in Kay Boardrooms of Kim Engineering Building on May 9th.More...

2013

Fall 2013

Two ECE Alumni Elevated to 2014 IEEE Fellows
ECE alumni Wade Trappe and Zhu Han were elevated to Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. The highest grade of membership, IEEE Fellow, is attained through nomination by peers and approval by the IEEE Board of Directors for distinction in the profession. Trappe was recognized for contributions to information and communication security. Zhu Han received this honor for contributions to resource allocation and security in wireless communications. Trappe and Han were both advised by Professor K. J. Ray Liu at the University of Maryland.More...
Liu, Jiang, Chen, and Gao Win Best Paper Award
Christine Yuri Kim Eminent Professor of Information Technology K.J. Ray Liu (ECE/ISR), researchers Chunxiao Jiang, Yan Chen, and graduate student Yang Gao, have received a 2013 Best Paper Award from the IEEE Communications Society. "Evolutionary Game for Joint Spectrum Sensing and Access in Cognitive Radio Networks" was selected to receive the Cognitive Radio and Networks Symposium best paper award at the 2013 IEEE Global Communications Conference (Globecom). More...

Spring 2013

Liu, Han, Yang, Wang and Wu Honored at UMD Invention of the Year Award for Time-reversal techniques
Christine Kim Eminent Professor in Information Technology and Associate Chair in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Dr. K. J. Ray Liu, Feng Han, Yu-Han Yang, Beibei Wang and Yongle Wu won the University of Maryland's 26th annual Invention of the Year Award in the Information Science category for their invention, titled "Time-Reversal Division Multiple Access for Wireless Broadband Communications." The awards, organized by the university's Office of Technology Commercialization, honored the top inventions of 2012.More...
Guan Named Distinguished Dissertation Fellow
Wei Guan, member of the Signals and Information Group, has been selected as ECE Distinguished Dissertation Fellow for 2012-2013. The fellowships are awarded to outstanding students in the final stages of dissertation work in recognition of their research excellence. The winners will be scheduled to present as a part of the ECE Graduate Student Association (ECEGSA) seminar series.More...
Alumnus Wade Trappe Honored by Rutgers
Former SIG member Wade Trappe, Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Associate Director of WINLAB, Wade Trappe, was selected to receive the 2013 Outstanding Engineering Faculty Award in recognition of his contributions to Rutgers' School of Engineering. The award will be presented on April 5th. Dr. Trappe was advised by Professor K. J. Ray Liu at the University of Maryland, and like his mentor, has become a nationally reputed authority in the field of wireless network security.More...
Liu Selected to Receive 2012 Faculty Service Award
Dr. K.J. Ray Liu, Christine Kim Eminent Professor in Information Technology and Associate Chair in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, was the recipient of the 2012 Faculty Service Award, in recognition of his service in revamping the Clark School's Master's in Telecommunications Program and leading curriculum reform at both the graduate and undergraduate level as ECE's associate chair of graduate studies and research, and his research and service contributions in the field of signal processing as a world-renowned speaker and scholar.More...

2012

Fall 2012

Liu Named Chair Professor by National Chaio Tung University
Dr. K. J. Ray Liu, Christine Yurie Kim Eminent Professor of Information Technology and Associate Chair of Graduate Studies in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, has received the honor of Chair Professor bestowed by National Chaio Tung University (NCTU) in Hsinchu, Taiwan. The appointment was conferred by the dean of the College of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Hsin-Hong Chen. More...
Zhu Han Granted Tenure at the University of Houston
Alumnus Zhu Han (MSEE '99; Ph.D., EE, '03) has received tenure as an associate professor at the University of Houston. Han teaches in the Electrical and Computer Engineering department, where he has worked since 2008. He was also an assistant professor at the University of Idaho, Boise, and a visiting professor at multiple universities. Han was the winner of the 2010 NSF CAREER Award for his research, "Mutual Benefit in Cognitive Radio Networks: A Coalitional Game Framework." More...

Summer 2012

Alumnus Jie Chen Promoted to Full Professor
Alumnus Jie Chen has been promoted to full professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Alberta (Edmonton, Canada). He received his M.S. in 1992 and Ph.D. in 1998, both in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Maryland. Christine Yurie Kim Eminent Professor of Information Technology K. J. Ray Liu advised his Ph.D. studies. More...

Spring 2012

Stamm Receives First Place Dean's Doctoral Research Awards
Matthew Stamm was awarded first place in the 2012 Deam's Doctoral Research Award Competition. Stamm is advised by Christine Kim Eminent Professor of Information Technology K. J. Ray Liu. Students from each of the Clark School's eight departments compete in this annual contest, which honors the best examples of high quality engineering research. Stamm received the 2012 award for outstanding research on digital multimedia forensics. His research interests are in information security, with particular focus on multimedia forensics and anti-forensics. More...
H. Vicky Zhao Earns Tenure at University of Alberta
Dr. H. Vicky Zhao, a former Ph.D. student under Christine Yurie Kim Eminent Professor of Information Technology and Associate Chair for Graduate Studies K. J. Ray Liu, has been promoted to the position of Associate Professor with tenure in Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) at the University of Alberta, Canada. More...

2011

Fall 2011

Liu Receives Honor from China's Northwestern Polytechnical University
Dr. K. J. Ray Liu received the honor of Advisory Professor, the highest honorary professorship bestowed by Northwestern Polytechnical University (NWPU) in the ancient capital city of Xi'an, China. The ceremony appointments were conferred by the President of the University, Chengyu Jiang. More...
Liu Delivers Keynote Address at APSIPA ASC 2011
Christine Yurie Kim Eminent Professor of Information Technology and Associate Chair for Graduate Studies and Research Dr. K.J. Ray Liu delivered a keynote speech at the Asia-Pacific Signal and Information Processing Association Annual Summit and Conference (APSIPA ASC 2011) in Xi¡¯an, China. Held on October 18-21, ASPIPA ASC aims to promote research and education on signal processing, information technologies and communications. More...
Liu Receives The Jimmy H. C. Lin Award for Invention
The Jimmy H. C. Lin Award for Invention is awarded to Dr. K. J. Ray Liu, along with Wan-Yi Lin and Nathan Goergen, in recognition of their invention "Active Sensing for Dynamic Spectrum Access," which won the University of Maryland Invention of the Year Award last spring. More...
Liu Delivers Keynote Address at ISPA 2011
Christine Yurie Kim Eminent Professor of Information Technology and Associate Chair for Graduate Studies and Research Dr. K. J. Ray Liu delivered a keynote speech at the International Symposium on Image and Signal Processing and Analysis (ISPA 2011) held in Dubrovnik, Croatia. The conference, which ran from September 4-6, sought to bring together researchers in the study of image and signal processing and computer vision. More...

Summer 2011

Liu, Lin and Zhao Co-Author New Book Analyzing Human Interaction with Social Media
Christine Yurie Kim Eminent Professor of Information Technology and Associate Chair for Graduate Studies Dr. K. J. Ray Liu has co-authored a new book titled "Behavior Dynamics in Media-Sharing Social Networks" with his former advisees, ECE alumnae W. Sabrina Lin (Ph.D., EE, '09) and H. Vicky Zhao (Ph.D., EE, '04), who is now with the University of Alberta.
Published by Cambridge University Press, the book serves as a comprehensive resource that demonstrates how game theory can be used to model user dynamics and optimize design of media-sharing networks. The text also investigates the impact of human factors on multimedia design and shows how to improve system performance by modeling and analyzing human behavior using examples from real-world multimedia social networks. Combining mathematical tools and engineering concepts with ideas from social sciences and human behavior analyses, this expansive guide enables researchers to explore this emerging field further and ultimately design media-sharing systems more efficiently, securely and with greater opportunity for personalization.More...
For more information about the book, visit the Cambridge University Press website.
Liu Gives Invited Keynote at Virginia Tech Conference
Christine Yurie Kim Eminent Professor of Information Technology and Associate Chair for Graduate Studies and Research Dr. K. J. Ray Liu delivered a keynote address entitled Cognitive Radio Games?on June 3 at Virginia Tech's 2011 Wireless Symposium in Blacksburg, VA. The focus of this three-day symposium is to assist professionals and academics in staying abreast of trends and current research in a rapidly changing, ever-expanding field.More...

Spring 2011

Tjoa Awarded NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship
Steve Tjoa has received a National Science Foundation (NSF) Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in collaboration with Imagine Research, Inc., in San Francisco, CA. He will develop machine learning algorithms that annotate and search for sound objects from large-scale multimedia collections. More...
Weifeng Su Earns Tenure at the University at Buffalo
Dr. Weifeng Su, a former ECE postdoctoral research associate under Prof. K. J. Ray Liu, has been promoted to the position of Associate Professor with tenure in Electrical Engineering at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo. More...
Chen Receives Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Students Abroad
Yan Chen, member of the Signals and Information Group,received the 2010 Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Students Abroad. He was one of approximately 500 students to receive the award. Each recipient will be awarded $5,000. More...
Stamm Awarded Wylie Dissertation Fellowship
ECE graduate student Matthew Stamm has been awarded the 2011-2012 Ann G. Wylie Dissertation Fellowship. Stamm is advised by Professor K. J. Ray Liu. The Ann G. Wylie Dissertation Fellowship includes a $10,000 stipend and tuition remission for one semester. Only a small number of students are selected each year to receive the fellowship based on a rigorous, university-wide nomination and selection process. More...
Liu, Lin, and Goergen Honored at UMD Invention of the Year Award for Wireless Security Technology
Christine Yurie Kim Eminent Professor of Information Technology K. J. Ray Liu, Wan-Yi Lin, and Nathan Goergen won the University of Maryland's 24th annual Invention of the Year Award in the Information Science category for their invention, titled "Active Sensing for Dynamic Spectrum Access." The awards, organized by the university's Office of Technology Commercialization, honored the top inventions of 2010. More...
Liu Article on 'Cognitive Radio Games' Featured in IEEE Spectrum
An article by Prof. K. J. Ray Liu was featured prominently in the April 2011 issue of IEEE Spectrum magazine. The feature, titled Cognitive Radio Games, explores how cognitive radio technology and game theory can help address the problem of overcrowded airwaves that must accommodate increasing wireless demands in a world of ubiquitous smart phones and wireless devices. More...
Wu Named Distinguished Dissertation Fellow and Chen Recognized with Honorable Mention
Yongle Wu, former member of the Signals and Information Group, has been selected as ECE Distinguished Dissertation Fellow for 2010-11. Yan Chen, member of the Signals and Information Group, was recognized with Honorable Mention. The fellowships are awarded to outstanding students in the final stages of dissertation work in recognition of their research excellence. This year, three Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) Ph.D. students have been selected as the winners; and four were recognized with Honorable Mention. The winners will be scheduled to present as a part of the ECE Graduate Student Association (ECEGSA) seminar series. More...
Liu Named Christine Yurie Kim Eminent Professor of Information Technology
Professor K. J. Ray Liu has been appointed Christine Yurie Kim Eminent Professor of Information Technology in the A. James Clark School of Engineering at the University of Maryland. Dr. Liu was selected for the Kim professorship in recognition of his sustained and influential scientific and scholarly work in the area of signal processing and communications. More...

2010

Fall 2010

Liu Inducted as ISI Highly Cited Researcher
Professor K. J. Ray Liu has been selected for inclusion in the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) Highly Cited list of researchers in the field of Computer Science. This list intended to highlight the world's most cited authors from the past 25 years who have made fundamental contributions to the advancement of science and technology. Prof. Liu was inducted as ISI highly cited researcher due to the high number of citations his publications have received from fellow researchers and scientists. More...
Liu Awarded Patent for Data Communication with Embedded Pilot Information
Professor K. J. Ray Liu and former SIG members, Chaiyod Pirak and Jane Z. Wang, have been awarded U.S. Patent for an invention, titled "Data Communication with Embedded Pilot Information for Timely Channel Estimation." The invention involves embedding pilot information into data at a transmitter for obtaining channel state information at a receiver. More... [News]
Liu and Wang Co-author Book Cognitive Radio Networking and Security
Professor K. J. Ray Liu and former SIG group member Beibei Wang have co-authored a new book entitled "Cognitive Radio Networking and Security: A Game-Theoretic View?" The book is published by Cambridge University Press. [News]
Presenting the fundamentals of designing, implementing, and deploying cognitive radio communication and networking systems, the book focuses on game theory and its applications to various aspects of cognitive networking. Cognitive radio networking provides a framework for making the best possible use of limited spectrum resources, and is currently revolutionizing the telecommunications industry. The book covers in detail the core aspects of cognitive radio, including cooperation, situational awareness, learning, and security mechanisms and strategies. This is an ideal reference for researchers, students and professionals in industry who need to learn the applications of game theory to cognitive networking. More...
Wu Awarded Litton Fellowship
Yongle Wu, member of the Signals and Information Group, has been awarded Litton Industries Fellowship from the A. James Clark School of Engineering for the Fall 2010 academic semester. This award was established by Litton Industries to support outstanding full-time graduate students in pursuit of a doctorate degree in either Electrical or Mechanical Engineering. More...
Liu Delivers Plenary Keynote at IEEE ICIP
Professor K. J. Ray Liu delivered a plenary keynote at the IEEE International Conference on Image Processing (ICIP), the premier conference in image and video processing, in Hongkong on September 29. The talk, entitled "Multimedia Social Networking: A New Paradigm for Signal and Image Processing", illustrates why understanding of human factors and behavior plays an important role in designing and improving multimedia communications and security, and demonstrates that the social networking approach can indeed offer a new and unified view to many classical problems and has the potential of becoming a new signal and image processing paradigm. More...
Alumnus Safar Appointed Director of Master's in Telecom Program
Former SIG member Zoltan Safar has been appointed as the Director of the Masters in Telecommunications Program at the University of Maryland, effective October 11, 2010. Dr. Safar has served on the faculty of the University of Copenhagen as an Assistant Professor, and as a senior engineer at Nokia, Samsung, and Bloomberg, since he received his Ph.D. degree in 2003. Dr. Safar's current research interests include wireless communications and multimedia signal processing, with particular focus on indoor and outdoor mobile positioning systems and algorithms, MIMO communication systems, space-time and space-frequency coding. More...
Liu Gives Distinguished Lecture at the Chinese University of Hong Kong
Professor K. J. Ray Liu an invited talk in Hong Kong on September 22, entitled "Reverse Engineering of Electronic Devices: An Information Forensic Paradigm". This talk was part of the Shun Hing Distinguished Lecture Series. In this talk, Prof. Liu discussed a new methodology for forensic analysis of digital camera images based on the observation that color interpolation leaves distinct intrinsic traces on digital images, and these intrinsic fingerprints can then be identified and employed to verify the authenticity of digital data. More...
Alumnus Sun Wins Best Paper Award at IEEE SocialCom
Former SIG member Yan Lindsay Sun, together with her student Yuhong Liu, has won the Best Paper Award at the IEEE International Conference on Social Computing (SocialCom 2010). The title of the award-winning paper is "Anomaly detection in feedback-based reputation systems through temporal and correlation analysis." Dr. Sun is an Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical, Computer and Biomedical Engineering, University of Rhode Island. More...

Summer 2010

Alumnus Trappe Wins Best Paper Award at ACM Conference on Mobile Systems
Former SIG member Wade Trappe, Associate Director of the Wireless Information Network Laboratory (WINLAB) at Rutgers University, has co-authored the paper entitled "ParkNet: Drive-By Sensing of Road-Side Parking Statistics" that won the best paper award from ACM 8th Annual International Conference on Mobile Systems. Suggesting a new way that technology can relieve traffic congestion and help drivers find available parking spaces, this work was also featured in MIT Technology Review. More...
Liu Invited to National Academies' Keck Futures Conference
Professor K. J. Ray Liu has been selected to attend the 8th Annual National Academies Keck Futures Initiative (NAKFI) conference, "Seeing the Future with Imaging Science." This conference will explore the potential for Imaging Science research to have a major impact on global issues, including climate change, security, and medical advances. The selection process for conference attendees is highly selective. The group of roughtly 150 invitees is intentionally diverse, including researchers from science, engineering, medicine, as well as representatives from public and private funding organizations, university and government leadership, and science journals. More...
Liu, Su, and Safar Awarded US Patent
Professor K. J. Ray Liu, together with two former SIG members Weifeng Su and Zoltan Safar, have been awarded U.S. Patent entitled "Systems and Methods for Coding in Broadband Wireless Communication Systems to Achieve Maximum Diversity in Space, Time and Frequency." This invention, which won the University of Maryland's Invention of the Year Award in 2004, develops a novel method for conveying an encoded data stream in a multiple-channel, multiple-frequency wireless communication system in a manner that achieves maximum space-frequency (SF) or space-time-frequency (STF) diversity. [News] More...

Spring 2010

Alumnus Qiu Joins University of Texas Faculty
Peng Qiu, a former member of the SIG Group, has joined University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, as an Assistant Professor. Dr. Qiu received his Ph.D. degree in 2007, and the title of his thesis was "Model-Based Genomic/Proteomic Signal Processing in Cancer Diagnosis and Prediction", the results of which were featured in IEEE 125th Anniversary Media Event. More...
Alumnus El Sherif Joins Alexandria University Faculty
Amr El Sherif, a former member of the SIG Group, has joined Alexandria University as an Assistant Professor. Dr. El Sherif received his Ph.D. degree in 2009, and the title of his thesis was "Cognitive Multiple Access for Cooperative Communications and Networking." More...
Alumnus Sun Earns Tenure at Rhode Island
Former SIG member Yan Sun has been promoted to the position of Associate Professor with tenure at the University of Rhode Island, effective July 1, 2010. Prof. Sun received her Ph.D. in 2004, and she was awarded an NSF CAREER Award in 2007. Her research interests include network security and wireless communications and networking. More...
Alumnus Ibrahim Joins Cairo University Faculty
Ahmed Ibrahim, a former member of the SIG Group, has joined Cairo University as an Assistant Professor. Dr. Ibrahim received his Ph.D. degree in 2009, and the title of his thesis was "Relay Deployment and Selection in Cooperation Wireless Networks." More...
Alumnus Su Wins ICC 2010 Best Paper Award
Weifeng Su, a former postdoc in the SIG Group, has co-authored the paper entitled "The Outage Probability and Optimum Power Assignment for Differential Amplify-and-Forward Relaying" that won the best paper award from the IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC). Dr. Su is an assistant professor of electrical engineering at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo. More...
Alumnus Han Wins NSF CAREER Award
Former member of the SIG Group Zhu Han has received a National Science Foundation CAREER Award for his research titled "Mutual Benefit in Cognitive Radio Networks: A Coalitional Game Framework." As an Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Houston, Mr. Han has been working to improve cognitive radio network performance through a game theory perspective. More...
Chen and Stamm Named Future Faculty Fellows
Yan Chen and Matthew Stamm, members of the Signals and Information Group, have been selected to participate in the Clark School's Future Faculty Program. This highly selective program is intended to improve the preparation of students for academic careers so that they can better succeed once they obtain such a position. Fellows are chosen based on the applicants' motivation for becoming a faculty member and potential for securing a tenure-track faculty position at a top-50 engineering school. More...
Liu, Siriwongpairat, and Han Receive Patent for Innovation in UWB Communication
Professor K. J. Ray Liu, along with former SIG members Wipawee Siriwongpairat and Zhu Han, have been awarded U.S. Patent for their invention "Method and System for Power Controlled Effective Allocation of Sub-Bands in Ultra-Wideband Communication." They have created a power controlled sub-band assignment and power allocation among users in a multiband Ultra-wideband (UWB) system that aims to reduce power consumption without compromising performance. An inexpensive suboptimal approach reduces the complexity of the optimization procedure and achieves a comparable performance to those of the complex full search optimization routine. [ News] More...
Liu Co-authors Book Handbook on Array Processing and Sensor Networks
Professor K. J. Ray Liu has co-authored a new book on array processing and sensor networks. The book, published by Wiley, provides readers with a collection of tutorial articles contributed by world-renowned experts on recent advancements and the state of the art in array processing and sensor networks. [News]
Focusing on fundamental principles as well as applications, the handbook provides exhaustive coverage of a variety of areas, including: cooperative communications; self-localization of sensor networks; spatial spectrum estimation; wavelets; MIMO radio propagation; acoustic array processing for speech enhancement; and many others. This is the first book of its kind and will appeal to researchers, professors, and graduate students in array processing, sensor networks, advanced signal processing, and networking. More...

2009

Fall 2009

Liu Receives IEEE SPS Technical Achievement Award
Professor K. J. Ray Liu has received the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Signal Processing Society (SPS) Technical Achievement Award for pioneering and outstanding contributions for the advances of signal processing in multimedia forensics, security, and wireless communications. The prize will be presented at the Society's Awards Ceremonies at the IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing (ICASSP) in Dallas, March 2010. More...
Liu Featured in IEEE Institute for Innovative Research
Professor K. J. Ray Liu has been featured in The Institute, the monthly newspaper of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), for his innovative cancer research. The feature article, which tops this months' news items on the IEEE Institute web page, describes Prof. Liu's use of digital signal processing techniques to extract data from DNA to predict and diagnose cancer development. Prof. Liu spoke last year about his breakthrough research at an IEEE 125th anniversary event, which showcased him as one of seven researchers developing "world-changing" technologies. More...

Summer 2009

Han and Lai Welcome New Arrivals
Zhu Han, former member of the Signals and Information Group, welcomed a baby girl, Melody, on May 22. Photos...
Quoc Lai, member of the Signals and Information Group, welcomed a baby girl, Minh-Chau, on July 2. Photos...
Liu Delivers Plenary Keynote at ICIEA Conference
Professor K. J. Ray Liu delivered a plenary keynote entitled "Reverse Engineering of Electronic Devices: An Information Forensic Paradigm.", on May 26, 2009 in Xi'an, China, at the fourth annual Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Conference on Industrial Electronics and Applications (ICIEA). ICIEA provides a forum for scientists, engineers and practitioners throughout the world to present the latest techniques in Industrial Electronics. More...

Spring 2009

Wang Wins Dean's Doctoral Research Award
Beibei Wang, member of the Signals and Information Group, won second place (tie) at the Dean's Doctoral Research Award Competition for her research, titled "Dynamic Spectrum Allocation over Cognitive Radio Networks." Her research interests include dynamic spectrum allocation and management in cognitive radio networks, wireless communications and networking, information theory, game theory and learning, multimedia communications, and security. More...
Liu Elected President-Elect of IEEE Signal Processing Society
Professor K. J. Ray Liu has been elected President-Elect of the IEEE Signal Processing Society (SPS). The IEEE SPS is the fourth largest society of the more than 40 societies and councils of IEEE. The IEEE SPS has more than 15,000 members worldwide. He will assume the position of President for 2012-2013. More...
Zheng Earns Tenure at UC-Santa Barbara
Former SIG member Haitao (Heather) Zheng has been promoted to the position of Associate Professor with tenure in the Department of Computer Science at the University of California, Santa Barbara, effective July 1, 2009. Prof. Zheng received her Ph.D. in 1999. Her research has focused on cognitive radio technology as a method for enabling wireless devices to more efficiently share available bandwidth. More...
Liu Selected for IEEE Panel on World Changing Technologies
Professor K. J. Ray Liu was selected as one of seven panelists who offer "world changing" technologies, in honor of IEEE's 125th anniversary event. Prof. Liu and his research team have developed a model that, by testing the interaction between an individual's genomic and proteomic signaling through a simple blood test, can determine if the patient is in the transition stage to developing cancer, and identify the type. This information will offer the earliest possible prediction of whether an individual is in danger for developing cancer and allow for preventative treatment. More...
Wu Named Future Faculty Fellow
Yongle Wu, member of the Signals and Information Group, has been selected to participate in the Clark School's Future Faculty Program. This highly selective program is intended to improve the preparation of students for academic careers so that they can better succeed once they obtain such a position. Fellows are chosen based on the applicants' motivation for becoming a faculty member and potential for securing a tenure-track faculty position at a top-50 engineering school. More...
Liu Delivers Plenary Keynote at ISPACS Conference
Professor K. J. Ray Liu delivered a plenary keynote entitled "Genomic/Proteomic Signal Processing for Cancer Classification and Prediction" on February 9, 2009 in Bangkok, Thailand, at the International Symposium on Intelligent Signal Processing and Communication Systems (ISPACS), one of the most well known international symposiums in signal processing, and communication systems. More...
Liu and Wu Awarded AFOSR Grant for Media Forensics
Professor K. J. Ray Liu will serve as the principal investigator (PI) for a grant from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR). This 3-year effort will investigate theories and algorithms to perform non-intrusive forensic analysis on multimedia devices and digital content. Along with co-PI and associate professor Min Wu, Liu's team will exploit intrinsic fingerprints, which are inherent traces left by various processing steps when media data goes through acquisition devices and processing systems. The goal of this research effort is to develop a holistic forensic framework to gather traces of evidence and answer who has done what, when, where, and how. More...
Zhao Receives IEEE SPS Young Author Best Paper Award
Former SIG member, H. Vicky Zhao, was selected to receive the IEEE Signal Processing Society 2008 Young Author Best Paper Award. The paper, co-authored with Prof. K. J. Ray Liu, is entitled "Behavior Forensics for Scalable Multiuser Collusion: Fairness vs Effectiveness" and appeared in the September 2006 issue of IEEE Transactions on Information Forensics and Security. Dr. Zhao, currently an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Alberta, will be presented with the award at a ceremony at the IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing (ICASSP 2009). More...

2008

Fall 2008

Liu Elected Fellow of AAAS
Professor K. J. Ray Liu has been elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Liu is one of a select group of new fellows recognized as leaders whose contributions toward the advancement of science and technology are deemed scientifically or socially distinguished. More...
Liu, Sadek, Su, and Kwasinski Co-author Book Cooperative Communications and Networking
Professor K. J. Ray Liu and former SIG group members Ahmed Sadek, Weifeng Su, and Andres Kwasinski have co-authored a new book on cooperative communications and networking. The book, published by Cambridge University Press, will be available in January 2009. [News]
Presenting the fundamentals of cooperative communications and networking, this book treats the concepts of space, time, frequency diversity and MIMO, with a holistic approach to principal topics where significant improvements can be obtained. Beginning with background and MIMO systems, this book covers a wide range of topics such as relay channels and protocols, performance bounds, multi-node cooperation, and energy efficiency, cooperative networking, and so on. Including end-of-chapter review questions, this text will appeal to graduate students of electrical engineering and is an ideal textbook for advanced courses on wireless communications. It will also be of great interest to practitioners in the wireless communications industry. More...
Liu Honored Clark School Faculty Outstanding Research Award
Professor K. J. Ray Liu has been selected as this year's recipient of the Clark School Faculty Outstanding Research Award. This award was instituted by the Clark School to recognize exceptionally influential research accomplishments by its faculty. More...
Kwasinski Joins RIT Faculty
Former SIG member Andres Kwasinski has joined the faculty of the Department of Computer Engineering at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). Kwasinski earned his doctoral degree in 2004 and later served as a postdoctoral researcher under Prof. K. J. Ray Liu. Dr. Kwasinski's research and teaching focus is in the areas of digital signal processing, networking, and communications. More...
Tjoa Honored ECE Graduate Student Service Award
Steve Tjoa was honored at the Department's annual Welcome Back Reception on Friday, September 5, 2008. ECE Chair Dr. Patrick O'Shea was on hand to present the ECE Graduate Student Service Award to Steven Tjoa, in recognition of his exceptional service to the Department as the President of ECE Graduate Student Association (ECEGSA) last year. More...

Summer 2008

Trappe Welcomes New Arrival
Wade Trappe, a former doctoral student under Prof. K. J. Ray Liu, recently welcomed a new addition to his family! Mira, a baby girl, was born on August 20. Photos...
Earlier this summer, Yan Sun, a former doctoral student under Prof. K. J. Ray Liu, welcomed a baby boy, Cedric, on June 28. And Z. Jane Wang, a former postdoctoral researcher under Prof. K. J. Ray Liu, welcomed Sophie, a baby girl, to her family on June 4. Photos...
Seddik Joins EE Faculty at Alexandria University
Alumnus Karim Seddik has accepted a position as assistant professor of electrical engineering at Alexandria University, Egypt. Seddik received his Ph.D. in 2008 with his thesis entitled "Diversity in Cooperative Networks: How to Achieve and Where to Exploit?" More...
Liu Delivers Keynote at IEEE Conference on Communications
On May 23, Prof. K. J. Ray Liu gave a keynote titled "Toward A New Communication Paradigm via Cooperation" at the IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC 2008) Workshop on Cooperative Communications and Networking, in Beijing, China. More...
Tjoa Awarded Summer Research Fellowship
Steve Tjoa, member of the Signals and Information Group, has been awarded a Graduate Student Summer Research Fellowship at the University of Maryland for the Summer 2008, which are intended to enable doctoral students to devote a summer of focused work to preparing for or completing a benchmark in their program's requirements. More...

Spring 2008

Han and Liu Co-author Book Resource Allocation for Wireless Networks: Basics, Techniques, and Applications
This new book offers a systematic and authoritative account of wireless resource management. The book examines basic concepts, optimization tools and techniques, and application examples, providing a unified framework for cross-layer optimization of wireless networks. State-of-the-art research topics and emerging applications, including dynamic resource allocation, cooperative networks, ad hoc/personal area networks, UWB, and antenna array processing, are examined in depth. This is a must-have guide to getting the best possible performance from wireless networks for those involved in the design and development of such networks. More...
Former SIG Members Welcome New Arrivals
Zoltan Safar and Ahmed Sadek, both former advisees of Prof. K. J. Ray Liu, recently welcomed new additions to their respective families! Zoltan welcomed a baby girl, Linda, on March 2, while Ahmed welcomed a baby boy, Adham, on March 12. Photos...
Tjoa Named Future Faculty Fellow
Steve Tjoa, member of the Signals and Information Group, was one of seven ECE graduate students selected to participate in the Clark School's Future Faculty Program (FFP). This program was introduced to increase the number of graduates who obtain academic positions, and in particular, faculty positions in prestigious engineering schools. More...

2007

Fall 2007

Siriwongpairat and Liu Co-author Book Ultra-Wideband Communications Systems: Multiband OFDM Approach
This new book provides a comprehensive coverage of the fundamental issues that must be understood in designing, implementing, and deploying UWB multiband OFDM systems. It covers the key physical layer aspects of UWB technology, including spectrum and regulations, UWB channels, modulation techniques, and transceiver architectures, with particular focus on the multiband OFDM approach. In addition, the authors further examine the major advanced state-of-the-art technology to enhance the performance of the standardized multiband OFDM technology. More...
Liu Delivers Distinguished Scholar-Teacher Lecture
Professor K. J. Ray Liu delivered a lecture on information forensics as part of the Distinguished Scholar-Teacher program at the University of Maryland. This program recognizes faculty members who have demonstrated outstanding scholarly achievement along with equally outstanding accomplishments as teachers. Liu is one of six Maryland professors to receive the honor this year. More...
Sun, Trappe, and Liu Co-author Book Network-Aware Security for Group Communications
This new book fills a growing need in the research community for a reference that describes the state-of-the-art in securing group communications in emerging networks and for future applications. The growth of multi-user services makes it essential that a complementary suite of security solutions are deployed in order to protect these services from a broad spectrum of security threats that are unique to group communications. This book is focused on tailoring security solutions to the underlying network architecture (such as the wireless cellular network, or ad hoc and sensor networks), or to targeted applications using methods tailored for that application (such as multimedia multicasts). The authors focus the discussion on two fundamental security issues for group communications: providing efficient key management for providing confidentiality, and providing authentication for group services. The book is geared primarily toward industry researchers, graduate students, and professors. More...
Liu Group Receives $1.8 Million NIH Grant for Cancer Treatment Research
Professor K. J. Ray Liu is part of a University of Maryland research group that has received a $1.8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for an innovative technique to treat cancerous tumors in the lungs and upper abdominal region. More...
Tjoa Receives George Corcoran Memorial Award
Steve Tjoa has received the George Corcoran Memorial Award for a graduate student, presented each year to a graduate teaching assistant in recognition of excellence in teaching. More...

Summer 2007

Trappe Appointed Associate Director of Rutgers' WINLAB
Alumnus Wade Trappe has been appointed Associate Director of the Wireless Information Network Laboratory (WINLAB) at Rutgers University. Trappe has served as assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at Rutgers since 2002, and was recently named associate professor wtih tenure in May 2007. More...
Tjoa Named New President of ECEGSA
Steve Tjoa was named the new President of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Graduate Student Association (ECEGSA). He will serve in his new leadership role with the ECEGSA from July 2007 through June 2008. More...
Tjoa Named Distinguished Teaching Assistant
Steve Tjoa has received a Distinguished Teaching Assistant Award from the Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE) for the 2006-2007 academic year. Award winners were selected based on nominations from faculty and students, as well as outstanding teaching evaluations and supporting comments. More...

Spring 2007

Liu Named Fellow of the Academy of Excellence in Teaching and Learning
Professor K. J. Ray Liu was selected to become a Fellow of the Academy of Excellence in Teaching and Learning (AETL) at the University of Maryland, starting Fall 2007. More...
Wade Trappe Earns Tenure at Rutgers
Alumnus Wade Trappe has been promoted to Associate Professor with tenure at the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at Rutgers University. Trappe received his M.S. in 1999 and his Ph.D. in 2002. More...
Peng Qiu and Ahmed Sadek Named Dissertation Fellows
Two members of the Signals and Information Group -- Peng Qiu and Ahmed Sadek -- were selected as ECE Distinguished Dissertation Fellows. These $5,000 fellowships are awarded to outstanding students in the final stages of their dissertation work. More...
Ahmed Ibrahim Named Best Student Paper Finalist for ICASSP 2007
Ahmed Ibrahim has been nominated to compete as a finalist in the Student Paper Contest at the IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing (ICASSP 2007) in Honolulu, Hawaii. This paper, entitled "A subspace signal processing technique for concealed weapons detection," is co-authored by Professor K. J. Ray Liu, Dr. Dalma Novak, and Dr. Rod Waterhouse. The main goal of this work is to develop a system that can accurately detect and classify concealed weapons from a distance. This system makes use of the fact that each weapon has a unique fingerprint, defined as a set of resonant frequencies determined by the weapon's size, shape, and physical composition. By estimating the resonant frequencies of an electromagnetic signal reflected from an object, the system can accurately detect if a weapon is present. More...
Three SIG Members Named Future Faculty Fellows
Three members of the Signals and Information Group -- Wan-Yi Lin, Karim Seddik, and Beibei Wang -- have been selected to participate in the Future Faculty Program. Open to doctoral students in the Clark School of Engineering, this program is intended to improve the preparation of students for future academic careers. More...
Yan Sun Wins NSF CAREER Award
ECE Ph.D. alumna Yan Lindsay Sun '04, an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Rhode Island, has received a National Science Foundation (NSF) Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award. Dr. Sun, a former advisee of Professor K. J. Ray Liu (ECE/ISR), received the honor for her research initiative, titled "Building Trust in Distributed Networks: Theories, Architecture and Applications." More...

2006

Fall 2006

Liu Named Distinguished Scholar-Teacher
Professor K. J. Ray Liu has been selected as a 2007-2008 Distinguished Scholar-Teacher by the University of Maryland. The Distinguished Scholar-Teacher program recognizes faculty members who have demonstrated outstanding scholarly achievement along with equally outstanding accomplishments as teachers. More...
Liu Teams with Area Company to Develop Portable Concealed Weapons Detection System
Professor K. J. Ray Liu is in the news for his work with Pharad, LLC, in Glen Burnie, Md. Liu is optimizing Pharad's portable system for detecting concealed weapons on individuals from a distance. The system can be used in a variety of indoor and outdoor environments, including airport concourses and passenger train terminals, public buildings, shopping centers, stadiums, and retail centers. More...

Summer 2006

Computerworld's 2006 Horizon Awards Honor Multimedia Forensics Research
Professor Min Wu and Professor K. J. Ray Liu received an honorable mention in the 2006 Computerworld Horizon Awards for their digital fingerprinting research. They are developing multimedia forensics technologies that will protect digital resources and trace those who attempt to steal or misuse them. More...
Liu Delivers Keynote on Multimedia Forensics at IEEE ICME
Professor K. J. Ray Liu delivered a keynote plenary on the subject of multimedia forensics at the IEEE 2006 International Conference on Multimedia and Expo (ICME) in Toronto on July 10. The lecture, titled "Multimedia Forensics: Where Sherlock Holmes Meets Signal Processing," addressed the current challenges in developing new multimedia forensics technology to safeguard digital content. More...
Hong Zhao To Join University of Alberta Faculty
Alumna Hong (Vicky) Zhao, a former Ph. D. student of Prof. K. J. Ray Liu, will join the Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) Department at the University of Alberta, Canada, as assistant professor this July. She received her Ph. D. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Maryland in December 2004 and has been a research associate with the Institute for Systems Research (ISR) since February 2005, working with Prof. Liu on multimedia security and digital forensics. More...

Spring 2006

Liu, Trappe, Wang, Wu, and Zhao Co-author Book Multimedia Fingerprinting Forensics for Traitor Tracing
This new book in the EURASIP series on signal processing and communications is recently published by Hindawi Publishing Co. It provides comprehensive coverage of the emerging multimedia fingerprinting technology to track culprits involved in the illegal manipulation and unauthorized usage of multimedia content. The book covers the essential aspects of research in this new technology, and explains the latest development in this field. The discussion provided in the book highlights challenging problems as well as future trends in this research field, providing readers with a broader view of the evolution of the young field of multimedia forensics. Presenting the state of the art in digital fingerprinting for multimedia forensics, this invaluable book is accessible to a wide range of researchers and professionals in the fields of electrical engineering, computer science, information technologies, and digital rights management. More...
Chaiyod Pirak Joins Faculty at King Mongkut's Institute of Technology
Chaiyod Pirak, a former research assistant with Professor K. J. Ray Liu, will join the faculty of Technical Education at King Mongkut's Institute of Technology North Bangkok in February. He joined the ECE department at the University of Maryland in 2003 under a joint research program with Chulalongkorn University, Thailand. He earned the Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering in 2005.
SIG Alumnus Balaji Sampath Wins MIT Global Indus Technovator Award
Maryland alumnus Dr. Balaji Sampath, a former student of Professor K. J. Ray Liu (ECE/ISR) in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department and the Institute for Systems Research, was awarded the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Indus Technovator Award for his work with the Association for India's Development (AID), a non-profit, volunteer organization committed to promoting sustainable, equitable and just development in India, particularly at the country's grassroots. More...
IEEE WCNC 2006
The following papers were recently accepted for publication by the Proceedings of the IEEE Wireless Communications and Networking Conference (WCNC), Las Vegas, April 2006:
  1. C. Pirak, Z.J. Wang, K.J.R. Liu, and S. Jitapunkul, "LS FFT-based Channel Estimators Using Pilot-Embedded Data-Bearing Approach in Space-Frequency Coded MIMO-OFDM Systems"
  2. K.G. Seddik, A. Sadek, W. Su, and K.J.R. Liu, "Outage Analysis of Multi-node Amplify-and-Forward Relay networks"
  3. A. Sadek, Z. Han, and K.J.R. Liu, "An Efficient Cooperation Protocol to Extend Coverage Area in Cellular Networks"
  4. W. Siriwongpairat, A. Sadek, and K.J.R. Liu, "Bandwidth-Efficient OFDM Cooperative Protocol with Applications to UWB Communications"
  5. W. Siriwongpairat, Z. Han, W. Su, and K.J.R. Liu, "Employing Cooperative Diversity for Performance Enhancement in UWB Communication Systems"
  6. W. Siriwongpairat, T. Himsoon, W. Su, and K.J.R. Liu, "Optimum Threshold-Selection Relaying for Decode-and-Forward Cooperation Protocol"
  7. W. Siriwongpairat, W. Su, and K.J.R. Liu, "Multiband UWB System Performance with Random-Clustering Multipath-Rich Fading Channels"
  8. T. Himsoon, W. Siriwongpairat, W. Su, and K.J.R. Liu, "Decode-and-Forward Differential Modulation Scheme with Threshold-Based Decision Combining"
  9. T. Himsoon, W. Su, and K.J.R. Liu, "Differential Modulation for Multi-node Amplify-and-Forward Wireless Relay Networks"
  10. A. Kwasinski, H. Zhao, and K.J.R. Liu, "On QoS Constraints and Joint Source-Channel Coding for Real-Time Cooperative Multimedia Communications"
  11. C. Pandana, T. Himsoon, W. Siriwongpairat, and K.J.R. Liu, "Distributed Cooperative Routing Algorithms for Maximizing Network Lifetime"
  12. Z. Han, L. Swindlehurst, and K.J.R. Liu, "Smart Deployment/Movement of Unmanned Air Vehicle to Improve Connectivity in MANET"
  13. T. Himsoon, W. Siriwongpairat, Z. Han, and K.J.R. Liu, "Lifetime Maximization by Cooperative Sensor and Relay Deployment in Wireless Sensor Networks"
  14. Z. Ji, W. Yu, and K.J.R. Liu, "Belief-Based Packet Forwarding in Self-Organized Mobile Ad Hoc Networks with Noise and Imperfect Observation"
Paper Co-Authored by Trappe, Wu, Wang, and Liu Earns IEEE SPS Best Paper Award
A paper titled "Anti-Collusion Fingerprinting for Multimedia," co-authored by Wade Trappe, Min Wu, Jane Wang, and K. J. Ray Liu (ECE/ISR), has won the IEEE Signal Processing Society's (SPS) Best Paper Award for 2005. The paper documents the University of Maryland research team's pioneering, interdisciplinary approach to digital fingerprinting research for multimedia content protection. More...
Hayashi Visits SIG
The Signals and Information Group welcomes Dr. Kazunori Hayashi, Assistant Professor in the Graduate School of Informatics at Kyoto University, who will serve as a visiting professor at Maryland during the winter. Prof. Hayashi's research interests include wireless sensor networks, in-network signal processing, cooperative communications systems, and signal processing for wireless communications systems. For publications, click here.

2005

Fall 2005

IEEE Infocom 2006
The following conference papers were recently accepted for publication at IEEE Infocom, Barcelona, April 2006:
  1. Y. Sun, Z. Han, W. Yu, and K. J. R. Liu, "Trust Evaluation Framework in Distributed Networks: Vulnerability Analysis and Defense Against Attacks"
  2. Z. Ji, W. Yu, K. J. R. Liu, "An Optimal Dynamic Pricing Framework for Autonomous Mobile Ad Hoc Networks"
Former ECE Postdoc Geoffrey Li Named Fellow of IEEE
Geoffrey Y. Li, a former ECE postdoctoral assistant with Professor K. J. Ray Liu and now an Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Georgia Tech, has been elected as a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). More...
Liu Delivers Keynote at IEEE International Workshop on Multimedia Signal Processing
Professor K. J. Ray Liu (ECE/ISR) delivered a keynote address on multimedia forensics at the IEEE International Workshop on Multimedia Signal Processing (MMSP) on November 2, 2005, in Shanghai, China. Dr. Liu's talk, titled "Multimedia Forensics for Traitors Tracing," offered a broad overview of the recent advances in multimedia forensics with a focus on multimedia fingerprinting for traitor tracing, as well as strategies to resist collusion attacks. More...
Liu Invited to Speak as Distinguished Lecturer at Rutgers
Professor K. J. Ray Liu (ECE/ISR) has been invited as a guest speaker for the Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) Department's Distinguished Lecture Series at Rutgers University. Dr. Liu will present his lecture entitled "Can Signal Processing Predict Cancer at Genomic Level?" on October 7, 2005. In his presentation, Dr. Liu will examine the possibilities of detecting different DNA gene cluster patterns in samples from cancer patients and normal subjects to predict the early stage of cancer development. More...
Haitao Zheng Joins Faculty at UCSB
Haitao Zheng, a former Ph.D. student of Dr. K. J. Ray Liu, recently joined the faculty at the University of California, Santa Barbara as an assistant professor of computer science. Furthermore, she has been named one of the top 35 innovators under the age of 35 by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Technology Review magazine. More...
Dedication of the Jeong H. Kim Engineering Building
The dedication ceremony of the Jeong H. Kim Engineering Building will take place on Monday, September 19, with events starting at 10 am. As a participant of the lab tours, Andres Kwasinski will offer a presentation about the use of adaptive source and channel coding to extend the capacity of a CDMA cellular network carrying video calls. More...
IEEE Globecom 2005
The following conference papers were recently accepted for publication at IEEE Globecom, St. Louis, November 2005:
  1. Z. Ji, W. Yu, and K.J.R. Liu, "A Dynamic Pricing Approach for Self-organized Mobile Ad Hoc Networks"
  2. C. Pandana and K.J.R. Liu, "Maximum Connectivity and Maximum Lifetime Energy-aware Routing for Wireless Sensor Networks"
  3. A.K. Sadek, W. Su, and K.J.R. Liu, "Clustered Cooperative Communications in Wireless Networks"
  4. Y. Sun, W. Yu, Z. Han, and K.J.R. Liu, "Trust Modeling and Evaluation in Ad Hoc Networks"
  5. W. Yu, Y. Sun, and K.J.R. Liu, "Minimization of Rekeying Cost for Contributory Group Communications"
  6. W. Yu and K.J.R. Liu, "Defense Against Injecting Traffic Attacks in Cooperative Ad Hoc Networks"
  7. W. Yu and K.J.R. Liu, "Anti-Attack Cooperation Stimulation in Self-organized Ad Hoc Networks"
  8. A. Kwasinski, Z. Han, and K.J.R. Liu, "Cooperative Multimedia Communications: Joint Source Coding and Collaboration"
  9. T. Himsoon, W. Su, and K.J.R. Liu, "Multiband Differential Modulation for UWB Communication Systems"
  10. A. Sadek, Z. Han, and K.J.R. Liu, "Multi-Node Cooperative Resource Allocation to Improve Coverage Area in Wireless Networks"
  11. A. Ibrahim, A. Sadek, W. Su, and K.J.R. Liu, "Cooperative Communications with Partial Channel State Information: When to Cooperate?"
IEEE SECON 2005
The following conference papers were recently accepted for publication at IEEE SECON, Santa Clara, September 2005:
  1. W. Yu and K. J. R. Liu, "Secure Cooperative Mobile Ad Hoc Networks Against Injecting Traffic Attacks"
  2. W. Yu and K. J. R. Liu, "Stimulating Cooperation and Defending Against Attacks in Self-Organized Mobile Ad Hoc Networks"

Summer 2005

Swindlehurst Visits SIG
The Signals and Information Group is pleased to welcome Dr. Lee Swindlehurst, Professor and Department Chair of Electrical Engineering at Brigham Young University, who will serve as a visiting professor at Maryland during the summer. Prof. Swindlehurst's research interests lie in the application of detection and estimation theory to problems in signal processing and wireless communications, including MIMO and space-time adaptive signal processing. More...
Wang, Wu, Trappe, and Liu Co-Authors of Award-Winning Paper on Multimedia Forensics
A paper co-authored by University of Maryland researchers Jane Wang, Min Wu (ECE/UMIACS), Wade Trappe, and K. J. Ray Liu (ECE/ISR) has been awarded the European Association for Signal, Speech and Image Processing (EURASIP) Journal on Applied Signal Processing Best Paper Award for 2004. The paper was titled "Group-Oriented Fingerprinting for Multimedia Forensics." More...

Spring 2005

Weifeng Su Joins SUNY-Buffalo Electrical Engineering Faculty
ECE/ISR postdoc Weifeng Su has joined the Department of Electrical Engineering at the State University of New York at Buffalo as an assistant professor. Dr. Su has been working with Professor K. J. Ray Liu (ECE/ISR) in the Communications and Signal Processing Lab since June 2002. More...
Liu Honored with Clark School 2005 Poole and Kent Senior Faculty Teaching Award
Professor K. J. Ray Liu (ECE/ISR) has been honored with the A. James Clark School of Engineering's 2005 Poole and Kent Senior Faculty Teaching Award. Dr. Liu won the award for the impact he has made to education and curriculum in the college. The award will be presented at this year's Spring Commencement on May 22nd. More...
Invention of the Year Award
Professor K. J. Ray Liu (ECE/ISR), along with Dr. Weifeng Su (ISR) and Dr. Zoltan Safar, were winners of the University of Maryland's 18th Annual Invention of the Year award in the Information Science category. Their invention, "Coding Techniques for Maximum Achievable Diversity in Space, Time and Frequency for Broadband Wireless Communications," includes a systematic code design method that can guarantee reliable data transmissions at high data rates in broadband wireless communications using multiple transmit antennas. More...