Electrical and Computer Engineering

"Towards accurate and efficient edge computing via multi-task learning " Abstract: AI-powered applications increasingly adopt Deep Neural Networks (DNNs) for solving many prediction tasks, leading to more than one DNNs running on resource-constrained devices. Supporting many models simultaneously on a device is challenging due to the linearly increased computation, energy, and storage costs. An effective […]

"Inference from Brain Imaging: Incorporating Domain Knowledge and Latent Space Modeling" Abstract: Brain imaging can probe the anatomy (structural) of our brain, or its function (functional). A particular imaging modality (unimodal) generally provides only a particular insight into human health. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), though still in its infancy as a brain imaging modality, is […]

"Towards Performance and Cost-efficiency for Data-intensive Applications in Distributed Data Processing Systems" Abstract: Data-intensive science (DIS) has experienced a significant boom in the past decade. The emerging technologies of data-intensive services and infrastructures contribute to DIS's development and raise challenges. An ecosystem has been constructed considering performance, scalability, sustainability, and reliability to provide a high-quality […]

"All-optical Control of Magnetization in Nanostructures" Committee: Prof. Yongmin Liu (Advisor) Prof. Don Heiman Prof. Nian X. Sun Abstract: The switching of magnetization by a femtosecond laser within several picoseconds has recently gained substantial attention, because it promises next-generation, energy-efficient, and high-rate data storage technology. One of the most intriguing demonstrations is the helicity-dependent switching […]

"Factorization guided Lightweight Neural Networks for Visual Analysis" Committee: Prof. Yun Fu (Advisor) Prof. Ming Shao Prof. Lili Su Abstract: Deep learning has become popular in recent years primarily due to powerful computing devices such as GPUs. However, many applications such as face alignment, image classification, and gesture recognition need to be deployed to multimedia […]

"Composition of UML Class Diagrams Using Category Theory and External Constraints" Abstract: In large software development projects there is always a need for refactoring and optimization of the design. Usually software designs are represented using UML diagrams (e.g class diagrams). A software engineering team may create multiple versions of class diagrams satisfying some external constraints. […]

"Terahertz Communication for Space Systems" Abstract: With the ultimate vision of ubiquitous egalitarian worldwide coverage driven by the rapid proliferation of high-speed satellite networks, private companies are launching satellites into orbit at unprecedented rates. The main goal of such networks enabled by dense constellations in space is to build a more robust telecommunications infrastructure and […]

"Channel-and-Adversary-Resilient Radio Fingerprinting through Data-Driven Approaches at Scale" Committee: Prof. Tommaso Melodia (Advisor) Prof. Kaushik Chowdhury Prof. Francesco Restuccia Abstract: Radio fingerprinting authenticates wireless devices by leveraging tiny hardware-level imperfections inevitably present in the radio circuitry. This way, devices can be directly identified at the physical layer– thus avoiding energy-expensive upper-layer cryptography that resource-limited embedded […]

"Overcoming and Engineering Wireless Signals for Communication and Computation" Abstract: The phenomenal growth of connected devices, especially rapid expansion of IoT networks and the increasing demand for wireless services are the main driving forces for the evolution of wireless technologies. However, the realization of such technologies requires a radical transformation of existing infrastructures to satisfy […]

"FPGA-based Accelerator of Neural Networks for Digital Predistortion" Committee: Prof. Miriam Leeser (Advisor) Prof. John Dooley Prof. Stefano Basagni Abstract: Power Amplifiers (PAs) are an essential part of wireless communications. As wireless standards evolve and become more demanding,  the requirements for PAs change as well.  Specifically, PAs need to balance linearity and energy efficiency while […]