2021-22 ECE Best Graduate Researcher Named
February 9, 2022
M
ississippi State University’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) has announced its 2021-22 ECE Best Graduate Researcher Award winner.
The ECE Graduate Committee announced Aly Abdalla as the winner, and he will receive $1,000 as part of his award. His major professor is ECE Associate Professor Dr. Vuk Marojevic, who notes that Abdalla is prolific in his work.
“As a Ph.D. student, Aly has built up an impressive publication record and has demonstrated excellent performance in his course and research studies. He has co-authored several scientific papers that are published in prestigious journals and magazines, including IEEE Wireless and IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology,” Marojevic said. “He contributed to several highly competitive NSF research proposals and established strong research ties with students and faculty in the U.S. and Europe.”
Abdalla’s research mainly focuses on improving the physical layer security of terrestrial wireless communication networks of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV).
“We study how the trajectory, power control, and communication schedule can be optimized via solving conventional optimization problems and applying artificial intelligence-based solutions,” Abdalla said. “In addition, we started investigating the integration of UAV with the reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS).”
Marojevic said. “Aly’s research is on physical layer security and advanced cellular communications for/with UAVs, which are both critical aspect of next generation wireless networks. His research contributes to improving the understanding and use of emerging wireless communications technology, such as the reconfigurable intelligent surface.”
In addition to recognizing Abdalla for his research, the ECE Graduate Committee also awarded honorable mentions to Robiulhossain Mdrafi, whose major professor is Dr. Ali Gurbuz, and Farhina Haque, whose major professor is Dr. Chanyeop Park.
The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Mississippi State University consists of 27 faculty members (including 6 endowed professors), 7 professional staff, and over 700 undergraduate and graduate students with approximately 100 being at the Ph.D. level. With research expenditure of the department in excess of $11.94 million, the department houses the largest High Voltage Laboratory among North American universities. For more detailed information on the department, please visit our website www.ece.msstate.edu.