Muriel Médard, NEC Professor of Software Science and Engineering in the EECS (Electrical Engineering and Computer Science) Department at MIT, speaks about her role in academia and research in the field of reliability and communications, as well as how IEEE ComSoc is an integral part of her engineering experience.

Professor Médard outlines the technical activities and the latest methods she works on for reading and decoding signal transmissions. The lab explores various technical domains, from satellite to software-defined wide-area networks to underwater networks.

Sapna Thapar, Ph.D. Research Scholar recipient of the TCS RSP Fellowship at the Indian Institute of Technology Jammu, India, shares key points about her career as a researcher and how IEEE ComSoc has influenced her journey.

Working in physical layer security for NOMA transmission, Dr. Thapar explains why she chose wireless communications, what the proudest moment in her career so far, and the future impact she’d like to see as a result of her work.

Brazilian-born Maria Vitória Rodrigues Oliveira, a Ph.D. researcher at the University of Campinas (Unicamp) student and data scientist in the financial sector, explains her recent work in machine learning modeling and how discovery is at the core of her computer science engineering experience.

Involved in industry and academia, Ms. Rodrigues Oliveira explains she ended up in waste management and how IEEE ComSoc keeps her connected to a community that contributes to her ongoing career development.

Dedicated IEEE Senior Member and Volunteer computer science engineer Nury Ramirez Cely shares how her job as an analytics software Project Manager requires collaboration with multiple teams to manage massive amounts of data while avoiding or mitigating risks and why she enjoys the role.

With experience as the Region 9 Director, Ms. Ramirez Cely, touches on how IEEE ComSoc has given her the unique opportunity to practice her professional goals in preparation for a career in industry and gives back to the community by leading technical outreach for women.

IEEE Fellow Aylin Yener is the Ohio State University Chope Chair Professor, teaching in three engineering departments: Electrical and Computer, Computer Science, and Integrated Systems. Dr. Yener leads the 6G and Beyond initiative, works in the design of next-generation intelligent networks, and mentors graduate and post-doctorate students.

Dr. Yener shares how her academic interests coincide with developing cutting-edge wireless communications technology shaping the future of 6G and the IoT and its network environment.

IEEE Fellow, Sumei Sun, is the Principal Scientist at the Institute for Infocomm Research (I2R) in Singapore, a publicly-funded research institute focusing on AI, communications, and cybersecurity. Professor Sun teaches at the Singapore Institute of Technology and the National University of Singapore and is particularly interested in developing and innovating next-generation wireless systems for industrial applications and solutions.

Professor Sun explains how mentorship has a leading role in her career activities, both in her industry and academic roles, and as an IEEE volunteer paving the way for women and the younger generation of engineers to participate in mentorship programs.

Researcher and Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Dr. Sarah Kate Wilson describes her main research in OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) used in WiFi, cellular, and radio, among other technologies. Dr. Wilson reflects on her career journey, starting with her B.A. in Mathematics, UNIVAC programming, to a Master’s in Electrical Engineering and a professorship with Santa Clara University in California.

She shares how mentorship and community are important aspects of a career and gives examples of how IEEE ComSoc has helped build a lasting impact.

Telecommunications Engineer, Innovator, Author, and Consultant, Monique Morrow, speaks about her job at Syniverse Technologies and the proliferation of designing and developing the architecture of emerging wireless technologies in tandem with business opportunities. Monique is an active member of the IEEE and ComSoc, participating in TechEthics and standardization.

As a strategist, Ms. Morrow outlines sage advice on acknowledging the value of your work and why being an inventor is so exciting.

IEEE Member and volunteer on the Board of Directors, Celia Desmond shares how she became the President and Owner of World Class - Telecommunications and continues to explore multiple engineering disciplines, both creative and industrial. From being told in her teen years to “be a teacher or a nurse” due to her gender to obtaining her degree in math and starting a career at Bell Canada, Ms. Desmond inspires and motivates career-building through determination and connections.

She explains why IEEE and ComSoc have been vital to her ongoing development and accomplishments as an engineer, business owner, and dedicated volunteer.

Telecommunications engineering graduate student Lianet Mendez at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid in Spain is pursuing a Master’s degree in Advanced Communications Technology, working in the physical layer and learning about signal processing. Focusing particularly on phase noise, Ms. Mendez describes her work, why she chose the path to wireless communications engineering, and the role of ComSoc’s WICE programs in her career.

Offering encouraging advice, Lianet outlines the most rewarding aspects of her job and tips for others curious about a career path in communications engineering.

Dr. Yessica Saez, a researcher and Professor of Electrical Engineering at Universidad Tecnologia de Panama, describes her role in telecommunications and academia and her leadership positions within the IEEE. Sharing her proudest achievements and embracing herself as a national role model, Dr. Saez inspires others to follow their passion for STEM and utilize educational and professional resources where available.

By drawing on her own experiences, Dr. Saez advises those starting a career to find and connect with what they love, even if they are trying something new.

Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Illinois in Chicago, Dr. Besma Smida, an IEEE Senior Member and Distinguished Lecturer of the IEEE ComSoc, discusses the dichotomy between communications theory and electromagnetism theory when pushing towards efficiency in wireless communication systems. She explains how multiple disciplines must overlap in collaboration to adapt to the growing and future demands of control and response device performance expectations over the network.

Dr. Smida pushes the prospect of identifying and following the problem as the primary motivator in a research career, finding the tools to solve it, and her best advice for success in the field of communications in academia.

A Portuguese engineer and Industrial IoT Head in Bavaria, Germany, Dr. Rute C. Sophia focuses on researching network architecture and protocols for the next generation of the Internet of Things applications. She details how her job requires the multidisciplinary collaboration of network and software engineering is paramount to the network’s success.

Outlining her career journey, Dr. Sophia values volunteering to help others with research quests in computer science and networking, the best advice she’s received to grow in her career, and how her inspirations and IEEE ComSoc have helped along the way.

Professor and Research Chair at the Memorial University of Newfoundland, Octavia Dobre, details her research interests, academic journey, and volunteer work with IEEE ComSoc. Professor Dobre explains why she loves academia, how it ties into her interests with IEEE, and her work’s impact on the future of the wireless communications industry.

She also shares the primary goal of her group’s research of integrating sensing and communications in wireless systems, especially when considering terrestrial and non-terrestrial of future sensing requirements in emerging surfaces and applications.

IEEE Member and volunteer Dr. Joyce Mwangama is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, in the Department of Electrical Engineering, and is also a lead participant in IEEE ComSoc activities and the Women In Engineering board. Primarily interested in emerging 5G and 6G private networks, Dr. Mwangama works on topics ranging from digital health to robotic and nomadic mobile networks, including ways these applications can be helpful to society.

She also chronicles the latest innovations she’s participated in, creating Africa’s first digital health testbed working to provide its citizens with digital and remote healthcare services.

A recent Ph.D. graduate from the French Atomic Energy Commission, Dr. Megha Quamara, an Adjunct Researcher at the Computer Science Institute of Toulouse (IRIT) in France, works in integrating software-based systems for automotive safety and security to support the engineers in this critical application domain. Considering business and economic criteria, Dr. Quamara works to identify and mitigate the associated risks with the interconnectivity and interoperability challenges in network software data exchange.

To develop trustworthy solutions that everyone can rely upon, she delves into the particular obstacles facing the future network to meet users’ requirements and how IEEE ComSoc and mentoring inspired her throughout her career development.

Communication Engineering Professor at King’s College London, U.K., Toktam Mahmoody is a Senior member of the IEEE, including ComSoc WICE, working in telecommunications mobile networking for over ten years. Professor Mahmoody explains why she’s proud to work in the sector, mainly focused on specialized applications that are the basis of network functioning.

She also offers advice on why it is essential to stay curious about the problems to solve.

Based in Spain, Wireless Communications Professor Ana Garcia Armada at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid is a researcher, IEEE Senior Member, and mentor, discussing her work in signal processing, such as sending and receiving over wireless networks, and details her impact on the industry. Professor Garcia Armada contributed to OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing), MIMO, and massive MIMO, and she researches waveform performance that serves the network’s mobile users’ requirements, as well as working on projects that noticeably enhance the human experience.

Professor Garcia Armada shares why teaching is so fun and why it’s such an exciting time to get involved in wireless communications engineering.

New Jersey-based IEEE Member Paula Muller is the Founder of Sociavi, an Information Technology company focused on helping older adults connect with their loved ones more easily with specially-designed devices that make it communicating less burdensome. Ms. Muller shares the personal inspirations that led her to create her own company and why compassion is essential to developing technology for humanity.

She also points out how IEEE ComSoc contributes to her career journey, which has improved the outreach of her company’s work.

The Peter and Evelyn Fuss Chair of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Michigan, Professor Mingyan Liu, is an IEEE Fellow and describes her research interests in optimal resource allocation, game theory, sequential decision theory, incentive design, and performance modeling and analysis, usually within wireless networked systems. More recently focused on cybersecurity and cyber-risk assessment and quantification, Professor Liu is leading a $6.25M multi-university project, MURI, driven to decode human group decision-making to protect diplomacy and financial markets and combat crimes and crimes and cyber-terrorism.

Professor Liu further expounds on why openness has led to significant collaborations in her career and allowed for diverse contributions to computer science and communications engineering.

Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Texas Tech University, Dr. Jingjing Yao, outlines her areas of research interest, including the Internet of Things (IoT), drill networks, mobile-edge computing, federated learning, and reinforcement learning. Dr. Yao combines the research topics and studies how to combine them to solve real-world problems in healthcare, transportation and energy.

Dr. Yao, an active member of the IEEE ComSoc, explains why making an impact through this work is meaningful and how ComSoc’s resources are pivotal to her continued success.

Director of Optical Access Standards at Futurewei Technologies in New Jersey, Dr. Yuanqiu Luo, speaks about her work helping to establish industry standards of high-speed fiber-access networks and why these standards drive the telecommunications industry on the path towards 6G. As part of these cutting-edge technologies, Dr. Luo describes her work’s impact on the global deployment of optical fiber networks, commercialized devices, and improving people’s lives.

Discussing her top motivations, Dr. Luo imparts her advice on how she built a solid career foundation with IEEE ComSoc.

Postdoctoral Research Associate at Indiana University, Purdue University in Indianapolis, Indiana, Dr. Anupma Thakur works in 2D nano-technology geared specifically towards green energy applications for hydrogen fuel conversion. A materials science engineer, Dr. Thakur, shares how tuning the properties of the earth’s elements at the nanoscale can pave the way for sustainable energy production to improve the quality of life of humans.

She faces some challenges in decoding the scalability of these materials for sustainable energy production and integrating them with the latest technology. Dr. Thakur discloses why IEEE ComSoc has been a place to learn and grow throughout her career.

University of Rochester’s Dean of Engineering and Applied Science, Dr. Wendi Heinzelman, is also a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering focusing on infrastructure-less types of wireless systems, such as the IoT, wireless sensor networks and mobile ad-hoc networks.

Describing the impact of her life’s work, Professor Heinzelman shares what she’s most proud of and who has inspired her the most and continuing a career in research and academia.

Detailing her history with the IEEE and its contributions to her development in engineering, Dr. Heinzelman gives several examples of how getting involved can be multidisciplinary, and tapping into that could lead to the subsequent great discovery or innovation that can change the world.

Belgium-based Independent Researcher, Dr. Nahla Mustafa Ali, working mainly on WiFi and how it conforms to SmartGrid and considers energy sustainability factors that influence the development of these technologies. Originally from Sudan, Dr. Mustafa Ali is interested in STEM advocacy for women and inspiring sustainable energy transition to get involved in combatting climate change.

Dr. Mustafa Ali discusses why participating in the IEEE ComSoc’s activities has been fruitful in her career, providing leadership opportunities and creating mentorship relationships that give back to the community.

Dr. Shahrnaz Azizi, an IEEE Senior Member in Region 6’s Santa Clara Valley Chapter, shares her experience as Principal Engineer at Intel, including her work’s global impact in developing low-cost Wi-Fi technology. Dr. Azizi has contributed to the standardization of Wi-Fi with the IEEE 802.11 Committee and works to develop algorithms for physical layer protocols, more recently researching how machine learning can enhance the user experience between platform and data.

Recalling what sparked her passion for inventing, Dr. Azizi details who and what inspired her to pursue a communications engineering career that helps improve people’s lives. She also explains why IEEE ComSoc assists with her ongoing career development in the industry.

Senior Orange Expert and Research Project Manager, Dr. Dinh Thuy Phan Huy describes her work as a telecommunications engineer specializing in designing and modeling new physical techniques for developing wireless mobile networks at Orange, based in France. Dr. Phan Huy is also a delegate with the European Technology Standardization Institute and became recognized as a leader in developing new technologies.

As a member of the IEEE ComSoc and WICE, Dr. Phan Huy specifies how her involvement with the organization has helped her career reach international heights.

Dr. Melike Erol-Kantarci is the Chief Cloud RAN AI\ML Data Scientist at Ericsson, and Canada Research Chair and Associate Professor at the University of Ottawa, Dr. Erol-Kantarci is working to develop more efficient and better performing wireless networks in 5G and 6G. Improving these networks requires leadership and cross-disciplinary work spanning industry and academia.

Dr. Erol-Kantarci explains how mentorship and the Communications Society have supported advancing her career in engineering, involvement in technological developments, and played a role in her social life. She is also inspired to give back to the community as a dedicated IEEE volunteer.

Dr. Yi Hong, an Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Research in the Electrical & Computer Systems Department at Monash University in Clayton, Australia, discusses her work in developing communications technologies and wireless security for 5G and future networks. Researching OTFS (Orthogonal Time Frequency Space) modulation transceivers, Dr. Hong’s work enables higher reliability of satellite and radar communications for the varying conditions of mobile networks.

As an Editor of two IEEE ComSoc journals, the IEEE Transaction on Communications and the IEEE Transactions on Green Communications and Networking, Dr. Hong has also chaired conferences, led workshops, and established a wide network of professionals and collaborators within ComSoc.

IEEE Fellow, Dr. Athina Markopoulou, is a Professor in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science department at the University of California Irvine, working in computer networks, Internet measurement, security, and data transparency. She works at the intersection of computer science, privacy policy, and law and explains how challenges are resolved only with interdisciplinary collaborations.

Professor Markopoulou offers career advice drawing from the story of her journey and the inspiration she finds by being deeply involved as an academic mentor, an active ComSoc member, and an IEEE volunteer.

Margaret Lyons, P.E., Senior RF Communications Engineer at Jacobs Solutions, details her 30-year career journey designing and implementing wireless networks across the U.S. and how her work continues to impact today’s wireless technologies. As an active member of professional engineering societies, Lyons offers career advice for students interested in the field.

A longtime IEEE Member, Lyons also shares the advantage of being a ComSoc member, and subscriber and why it’s important to industry research and mentorship opportunities.

Dr. Mimi Tam, the CTO and Head of Emerging Technologies at Ericsson, currently works in the area of Private Cellular Networks for 4G/5G and explains what her work entails serving customers who require these networks. Dr. Tam outlines the key challenges, including seeking equity and economic growth to develop a sustainable network that helps close the digital divide.

An active member of the IEEE work groups for the standardization of 6G, Dr. Tam recalls how IEEE has played an important role in her career development and proved fulfilling upon giving back as an IEEE Volunteer. She also shares how she found her path to a career in telecommunications.

Wireless researcher and Dean of Engineering at Princeton University, Dr. Andrea Goldsmith, is an industry leader, academic, dedicated IEEE member, volunteer, mentor, and diversity and inclusion advocate. She works at the intersection of wireless technology and standards development, government and policy, and enabling the next generation of communications engineers.

Dr. Goldsmith explains how the IEEE and the Communications Society have played an instrumental role in her career development. In addition to her membership’s many benefits, she has also found collaborators and life-long friends.

IEEE Fellow and active member Dr. Elza Erkip is an Institute Professor of Electrical Engineering at NYU Tandon School of Engineering working on the foundations of wireless and social networks. Taking on global connectivity challenges, Dr. Erkip focuses on developing more efficient networks and tackling energy, privacy, and security concerns. She enjoys collaborative efforts with students and fellow academics as the technology moves toward the new 6G network.

Also, addressing user privacy concerns in social networks, Professor Erkip explains why this research is important to use technology in daily life. She outlines how IEEE ComSoc and mentoring have proved pivotal to her ongoing career experiences.

Dr. Damla Turgut is the Charles Millican Professor of Computer Science at the University of Central Florida and a 2023-2024 IEEE ComSoc Distinguished Lecturer working in IoT and the wireless data exchange between these physical devices. She explains how the recent developments in AI-enabled IoT devices can assist in making this data work for us, albeit creating issues in privacy and security.

As an active IEEE member and volunteer, Professor Turgut shares her advice for those starting their career, what inspired her to pursue engineering, and how IEEE ComSoc’s resources have been invaluable as a professor while allowing her to grow her professional network.

Dr. Mathini Sellathurai is a Professor of Signal Processing for Wireless Communications and the Dean of Science and Engineering at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, U.K., who leads a research group in Machine Learning, and Assistive-Technologies powered by ultra-reliable low-latency communications. She works with academia, industry, and research to solve communication problems, including radar and satellite communications.

Professor Sellathurai shares historical highlights of her career and the inspirations and motivations that led her to communications engineering. She details why involvement in mentorship is so rewarding and offers her advice for young engineers starting their careers.

Dr. Simona Lohan is a Professor at Tampere University in Tampere, Finland, a Visiting Professor at the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona in Spain, and the coordinator of the Marie Curie European Doctorate Network called AWEAR. Professor Lohan works specifically in Signal Processing for Global Positioning with Global Navigation Satellite Systems, Wi-Fi, cellular, RF, Bluetooth, and RFID. She shares the use cases that aim to enhance human life in areas without connectivity.

Reflecting on what motivated her to pursue communications engineering and why she loves her job, Professor Lohan advises those starting their careers why curiosity, learning, and mentoring are so important.

IEEE Member Tina Marie Slivka is a Senior Technology Advisor, and consulting partner at Genpact in Virginia, working to solve business problems related to the intersection of data, tech, and AI for clients in media, publishing, and telecommunications across the United States. At the fingertips of Emerging Technologies, she explains why subscribing to IEEE journals is crucial to staying ahead of industry advancements and impacting those advancements with her work.

Detailing what made her fall in love with data communications, Ms. Slivka gives her advice for building a career in communications engineering and how IEEE ComSoc is and continues to be a key factor in that process.

Dr. Baek-Young Choi is a Professor of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering at the University of Missouri, Kansas City, where she works in the analysis and management of communications networks and distributed systems, including secure sensor systems and Smart City applications. Her latest research includes IoT and AI-enabled applications, and she teaches courses in Network Architecture, Cloud Computing, and Blockchain.

Professor Choi is also an active member of ComSoc WICE (Women In Communications Engineering) and a dedicated IEEE volunteer who strongly supports mentorship programs. She explains why having an impact on improving the lives of people through technology is so rewarding.

Implementation and Support Engineer Cybele Chanem, works at Invigo Offshore and is an IEEE Volunteer Leader and Region 8 Student Activities Coordinator in Lebanon. She has also contributed to IEEE Day and IEEE Xtreme events. She expresses how she uses her creativity in engineering and why being a part of the development of 6G is so intriguing.

Detailing her transformation before and after becoming a member of IEEE, Ms. Ghanem recognizes her achievements and how ComSoc has been and continues to be a vital aspect of her success in building a community in telecommunications engineering.

Dr. Bige Deniz Unluturk is an Assistant Professor in Electrical Engineering at the Institute of Quantitative Health Science and Engineering at Michigan State University, and why nature inspires her to mimic its optimization at the intersection of communications and bioengineering. Specifically working in wireless molecular communication, Dr. Unluturk shares how she hopes her latest research will impact future biomedical applications such as implantable sensing devices at the nanoscale.

On the ComSoc WICE Standing Committee and an active IEEE Volunteer Leader in Region 4, Central United States, Professor Unluturk outlines how IEEE ComSoc influenced her leadership skills and expanded her network.

Professor of Telecommunications in France, Dr. Arsenia Chorti works in academia and research at ENSEA (École Nationale Supérieure de l'Électronique et de ses Applications - National School of Electronics/Applications), with a primary focus on 6G Physical Layer Security. She is the Chair of the IEEE Focus Group on Physical Layer Security and the IEEE Future Networks Initiative committee member.

Painting a picture of why attention to these topics is important to the future of humankind, Professor Chorti explains how IEEE aligns with her goals. She offers sound career advice for young women, in particular, and speaks to how ComSoc has played a pivotal role in her career development.

Professor Urbashi Mitra is the Gordon S. Marshall Chair of Engineering at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, in Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Computer Science. Describing her research as reaching “the nexus of information, inference, and intelligence,” Professor Mitra leads students in communications theory, information theory, structured statistics, decision-making and control, to design and optimize large-scale and wireless networks.

Providing a window into a day in the life of her career in academia and research, Professor Mitra not only gives unique career advice but aims to inspire women to believe in and follow their curiosity.

Dr. Yonina Eldar is a Professor of Electrical Engineering at the Computer Science Department at the Weizmann Institute of Science, at the Center for Biomedical Engineering and Signal Processing, and serves as a Visiting Professor at MIT, who promotes education, women in research and engineering and works to bridge the gap between technological research and clinical applications.
 

Expounding on why this work impacts society, human life, and the developing future of medical technology, Professor Eldar encourages leadership, mentorship, and collaboration and highlights the role that IEEE ComSoc and active participation in its activities support in this work.

Dr. Bassant Selim in a Professor of Systems Engineering at the L'Université du Québec à Montréal École de technologie supérieure - University of Montreal in the School of Higher Technology, working in wireless Intelligent Reflecting Surfaces. With her background as a Data Scientist at Ericsson Canada, Professor Selim aims to bridge the gap between industry and academia, showcasing how her career found her and why she encourages mentorship, support, and following curiosity.

She also shares the benefits of involvement with IEEE ComSoc and encourages seeking opportunities to grow professionally and personally within the organization.

Professor and Department Chair of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Sinem Çöleri is an IEEE Fellow, ComSoc Distinguished Lecturer and works at Koç Üniversitesi in Istanbul, Turkey and expresses what she loves about her job in research and academia, and having an impact on society through technology. She shares the inventions she’s most proud of, the people that inspired her to think differently, and why IEEE is important to her continued career development.

An active and dedicated member of the IEEE, Professor Çöleri offers advice and encouragement to those seeking a career in communications technology.

Dr. Rose Hu is a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Utah State University’s College of Engineering and the Director of Communications Network Innovation Lab researching Next-Generation Wireless System Design and Optimization, IoT, CyberPhysical Systems, Mobile-Edge Computing, AI and ML. She describes why these topics are relevant to the positive societal impact of technology.

An IEEE Fellow for contributions to the design and analysis of mobile wireless communications systems, Professor Hu, values how IEEE ComSoc has been instrumental to her continued career success and encourages mentorship and participation within the organization.

IEEE Member Dr. Mari Carmen Aguayo Torres is Professor of Telecommunications Engineering at the Universidad de Málaga in the South of Spain, research and teaching in areas of communications theory in cellular network architectures for 5G and Beyond initiative. She outlines the future challenges in the area, why taking precautions with AI is important, and how she ended up in various leadership positions that make positive impacts through technology.

Professor Aguayo details the best advice that has impacted her career and why ComSoc provides her a platform to exchange ideas, get informed, network, and make friends.