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Prospective Students
Prospective students who are interested in working with me in research areas of mutual interests are
welcome to contact me. If you are in the MS or PhD program and want to do the thesis projects with me,
feel free to contact me about the possible topics for the projects and independent study.
Some potential topics include but not limit to:
- Wireless networks: topology control, energy efficiency, routing, truthful computing, scheduling, and applications of computational geometry methods;
- Non-cooperative computing: how to design protocols and algorithms such that the performance is still guaranteed when participant agents are selfish.
- P2P computing: distributed algorithm, truthful computing and mechanism design.
- Scientific computing: 3D meshing for various purposes, modeling and so on.
- Practical algorithms' Implementation (see the theoretical and practical differences and how to make theoretical good methods also practically good).
Before you contact me, you should read the following information (based on information collected and/or
written by Professor Guoliang Xue from ASU):
- PhD thesis research represents a substantial work. You may want to read
Useful Things to Know About Ph.D. Thesis Research
by H.T. Kung at Harvard.
- Choosing a PhD thesis advisor is a very important decision for a graduate student. Here are some suggested readings:
- How to Choose a Thesis Advisor by Michael C. Loui at UIUC.
- How to Succeed in Graduate School from ACM Crossroads student magazine.
- How to Be a Good Graduate Student from the Caltech Grad Handbook.
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Before you contact me, please check out my research interests and read through the following. This will save both your time and mine.
- If you are working with another faculty member in our department, please do
not contact me.
- Research is enjoyable most of the times. Some times, however, it may not be as smooth as you thought. Please make sure you have the dedication and determination to carry out research.
- On average (1997--present), I work about 60 hours a week. You have to be prepared for this. Hard working is a necessary condition for success, but not sufficient also, :-).
- My research centers around better algorithms for various optimization problems in computer networks (most recently, in wireless ad hoc networks, sensor networks, and peer-to-peer networks). In order to thrive in my group, you need to have strong ability in algorithms and broad knowledge in networks.
- You will also need to be able to carry out implementations effectively. Proficiency in (not just knowing) C or C++ is a must. You have to be prepared to learn at least one of the following simulation tools:
- NS-2: the general network simulator (basically required)
- OPNET: for wireless networks and WDM networks
- MATLAB: scientific computing and graphics (basically required)
- LEDA: library for efficient data structures and algorithms
- CPLEX: for solving LP and ILP
What is the advisor's effort?
- I help my grad students select important research topics and train them in my research projects so that PhD students can perform independent research and publish papers of the highest quality (e.g. major IEEE Transactions or Journals). MS students can perform guided research and publish a paper in a reputable conference or journal.
Is it worth all the effort?
- In doing so, you will increase your market value.
How to read technical papers in computer science? When you read articles or reports, keep the following in mind
- What is the main contribution of the paper?
- Is this important, why?
- Is this a theoretical contribution to some fundamental problems in CS, or a protocol-like contribution, or both?
- What was the main insight in getting the result?
- What is not clear to you?
- What did the authors not do, and you regard important?
- What are the most important assumptions, are they limiting?
- What are the possible applications suggested in the paper?
- How does this relate to other things we have seen?
- What extensions does this suggest?
- Can you suggest some project idea based around the ideas in this paper?
If you read through this point and still want to work with me, please email me at
xli AT cs DOT iit DOT edu with your resume (ASCII, PDF or POSTSCRIPT) and sample papers (if you do have publications). Please acknowledge that you have read this page at the beginning of your email. Otherwise, I may not spend the time to read your resume. You can also contact my current or graduated students about the research topics and styles.
Current or graduated students:
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Yu Wang (PhD 2000-2004), Research: wireless ad hoc network topology using geometry approach. Starting Fall 2004, he will join the Department of Computer Science of University of North Carolina at Charlotte as tenure-tracked assistant professor. Congratulations for his achievement on this tough job market!!!!
- WenZhan Song (PHD 2001-2005), Research: peer-2-peer networks (including wireless ad hoc networks-- more practical modelling).
He is now an assistant professor at the Washington State University Vancouver.
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Kousha Nejad (PHD 2002-), Research: wireless ad hoc network routing and others (theoretical performance analysis).
- WeiZhao Wang (PHD 2002-), Research: Truth-telling peer-2-peer networks (including wireless ad hoc networks). To ensure the performance of networks when nodes are non-cooperative (playing games,:-)).
- Yanwei Wu (2005-?),
- Yusaf Hason (2001-2005),
- Ashraf Nusairat (2004-200?).
- Nguyen, Antonie-Dienth (MS, MS Thesis Committee 2001). Khaled M. Alzoubi (PhD thesis committee 2002)
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