Research Group

Student Research Seminars

Video recordings of the research seminars delivered by several of our students and postdocs are available here.

Current Graduate Students

Ph.D. Students

Harish K. Dureppagari 

Harish K. Dureppagari is a Ph.D. student in the Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Virginia Tech since Fall 2022. Before joining VT, he was a Ph.D. student at Texas A&M University from Sept. 2021 to Aug. 2022. Prior to that, he worked at WiSig Networks, India, from Oct. 2017 to Aug. 2021. He received his M.Tech. degree in Electrical Engineering from IIT Hyderabad in 2016, where he was ranked third in his class. After graduating from IIT Hyderabad, he worked at Analog Devices, India from Aug. 2016 to Sep. 2017. His research interests comprise Cellular Communications, Massive MIMO, and AI for Wireless Communications. He was awarded the best paper award honorable mention at IEEE COMSNETS 2020. (LinkedIn)

Don-Roberts Emenonye 

Don-Roberts Emenonye received the B.Sc. degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from the University of Lagos, Nigeria, in 2016, and the M.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from Virginia Tech in 2020. He is currently a Ph.D. student in the Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Virginia Tech, USA. His research interests span the areas of communication theory and wireless positioning. (LinkedIn) (Google Scholar)

Haozhou Hu 

Haozhou Hu is a Ph.D. student in the Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Virginia Tech. He received his B.E. degree in Electronic and Information Engineering from Xidian University, China, in 2020, where he was ranked first in the gifted class of the School of Electronic Engineering and was awarded a National Scholarship. His research interests include wireless positioning, machine learning, and stochastic geometry.

Wasif Hussain 

Wasif J. Hussain is a Ph.D. student in the Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Virginia Tech. He received his B.Tech-M.Tech dual degree in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur in 2023. He was a recipient of the Dr. Vijay K. Varma Talent Award for the best M.Tech student in the areas of Signal Processing and/or Wireless Communications at IIT Kanpur. His research interests include wireless communication and stochastic geometry. (Webpage)

Alyse M. Jones 

Alyse M. Jones is a Ph.D. student in the Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Virginia Tech as well as a Research Associate within the Spectrum Dominance Division at the Virginia Tech National Security Institute. She received her M.S. degree in Electrical Engineering in 2022 at Virginia Tech, and prior to that, she received her B.S. degree in 2016 in Electrical Engineering from Louisiana Tech, where she was named Outstanding Junior and Senior for two consecutive years within the College of Engineering and Science for excellence in academics and leadership. Her current research interests include AI/ML for wireless communications, cognitive radio, and physical layer security. (LinkedIn)

Anish Pradhan 

Anish Pradhan is a graduate student in the Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Virginia Tech. He completed his bachelor's degree from the National Institute of Technology, Durgapur, India in 2018, where he was ranked first in the Department of Electrical and Communication Engineering and was awarded the Institute Gold Medal. During his undergraduate, he was invited to Japan to represent India in the JENESYS 2016 programme under the theme “Telecommunication” organized by the Japan International Cooperation Center (JICE) and Ministry of Foreign Affairs of both countries. Upon graduation, he worked as a research intern at the Wirocomm lab, IIIT Delhi, exploring theoretical aspects of massive MIMO. His current research interests are in the areas of reconfigurable intelligence surfaces, channel modeling, and wireless communications. (Webpage) (Google Scholar)

Xiangliu Tu 

Xiangliu Tu is a Ph.D. student in the Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Virginia Tech. She received her B.E. degree in Electronic and Information Engineering from Xidian University, China, in 2020, where she was ranked third in the gifted class of the School of Electronic Engineering and was awarded a National Scholarship. Her current research interests include wireless communications and stochastic geometry.

M.S. Students

Sam Brown 

Sam Brown is an accelerated MS student in the Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Virginia Tech. He earned his BS in Electrical Engineering (with a minor in Physics) Magna Cum Laude from Virginia Tech in the Spring of 2023. Sam interned at the MITRE Corporation in the Summers of 2021 and 2022 and at MIT Lincoln Laboratory in the Summer of 2023. His current research interests include vision-informed wireless, wireless positioning, and satellite communications. (LinkedIn)

Nick Goradia 

Nick Goradia is an MS Bradley Fellow in the Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Virginia Tech. He earned his BS in Electrical Engineering along with a BS in Mathematics, Magna Cum Laude, from Virginia Tech in the Spring of 2023. His research interests include wireless communications and stochastic geometry. (LinkedIn)

Xinrui Li 

Xinrui Li is an M.S. student in the Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Virginia Tech. He received his B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering at Virginia Tech in 2019. Before returning back to Virginia Tech for graduate school he worked at MediaTek and Samsung for three years. His research interests are in the area of communication theory and age of information. (LinkedIn)

Visiting Scholars

Our group hosts a few visiting Ph.D. students every year. Some of them continue working with us at Virginia Tech as Postdoctoral Fellows after completing their Ph.D. degrees. If you are interested in visiting us, please feel free to contact Prof. Dhillon.

Group Alumni

Postdoc

Solmaz Niknam 

Solmaz Niknam received her Ph.D. from Kansas State University, KS, USA in 2018. She was a visiting Ph.D. student and later a postdoc (co-hosted with Prof. Jeff Reed) in our group from July 2018 to June 2020. (Google Scholar)
First job after postdoc: Senior Modem System Engineer, Qualcomm, San Diego, CA

Praful Mankar 

Praful Mankar received his Ph.D. degree from IIT Kharagpur, India in 2016. He was a postdoctoral scholar in our group from Sept. 2017 to June 2019. (Google Scholar)
First job after postdoc: Assistant Professor, IIIT Hyderabad, India

Mehrnaz Afshang 

Mehrnaz Afshang received her Ph.D. from Nanyang Technological University (co-advised by Dr. Dhillon) in March 2016. She was a visiting Ph.D. student and later a Postdoc in our group from Jan. 2015 until July 2018. (Google Scholar)
Her first job after postdoc was with Ericsson Research, Santa Clara, CA, USA

Ph.D.

Mohamed A. Abd-Elmagid 

Mohamed A. Abd-Elmagid completed his Ph.D. in Spring 2023. (Google Scholar)
First position after Ph.D.: Postdoctoral Research Fellow at The Ohio State University with Profs. Ness B. Shroff and Eylem Ekici
Dissertation: Age of Information: Fundamentals, Distributions, and Applications

Morteza Banagar 

Morteza Banagar completed his Ph.D. in Spring 2022. (Google Scholar)
First job after Ph.D.: Senior Engineer, Qualcomm, San Diego, CA
Dissertation: Drone Cellular Networks: Fundamentals, Modeling, and Analysis

Jaya Kartheek 

Jaya Kartheek Devineni completed his Ph.D. in Summer 2021. (Google Scholar)
First job after Ph.D.: Senior Modem System Engineer, Qualcomm, San Diego, CA
Dissertation: Ambient Backscatter Communication Systems: Design, Signal Detection and Bit Error Rate Analysis

Priyabrata Parida 

Priyabrata Parida completed his Ph.D. in Summer 2021. (Google Scholar)
First job after Ph.D.: Senior Engineer, Samsung Research America, Richardson, TX
Dissertation: Stochastic Geometry Perspective of Massive MIMO Systems

Christopher E. O'Lone 

Christopher E. O'Lone completed his Ph.D. in Fall 2020. (Google Scholar)
First job after Ph.D.: Senior Professional Staff, The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD
Dissertation: Statistical Analysis of Geolocation Fundamentals Using Stochastic Geometry

Chiranjib Saha 

Chiranjib Saha completed his Ph.D. in Summer 2020. (Google Scholar)
First job after Ph.D.: Senior Engineer, Technical Standards Team, Qualcomm, San Diego, CA
Dissertation: Advances in Stochastic Geometry for Cellular Networks

Vishnu Vardhan 

Vishnu Vardhan Chetlur completed his Ph.D. in Summer 2020. (Google Scholar)
First job after Ph.D.: Senior Engineer, Technical Standards Team, Qualcomm, San Diego, CA
Dissertation: Stochastic Geometry for Vehicular Networks

Mustafa Kishk 

Mustafa Kishk completed his Ph.D. in Summer 2018. (Google Scholar)
First position after Ph.D.: Postdoctoral Research Fellow at KAUST with Prof. Mohamed-Slim Alouini
Full-time job after postdoc: Assistant Professor at The National University of Ireland, Maynooth
Dissertation: Coverage, Secrecy, and Stability Analysis of Energy Harvesting Wireless Networks

Javier Schloemann 

Javier Schloemann completed his Ph.D. in Summer 2015.
His first job after Ph.D. was with Northrop Grumman Corporation, Rayleigh, NC, USA.
Dissertation: Fundamental Analyses of Collaborative and Noncollaborative Positioning

M.S.

Keerthana Bhogi 

Keerthana Bhogi completed her M.S. in Summer 2021.
Her first job after M.S. was with Qualcomm, San Jose, CA.
Thesis: Two New Applications of Tensors to Machine Learning for Wireless Communications

Randeep Baweja 

Randeep S. Baweja completed his M.S. in Fall 2020.
His first job after M.S. was with Ibeos, Reston, VA.
Thesis: FPGA Implementation of a Pseudo-Random Aggregate Spectrum Generator for RF Hardware Test and Evaluation

Tapan Bhandari 

Tapan Bhandari completed his M.S. in Summer 2017.
His first job after M.S. was with Qualcomm, San Jose, CA.
Thesis: Comprehensive Performance Analysis of Localizability in Heterogeneous Cellular Networks

Sai Nisanth Bodepudi 

Sai Nisanth Bodepudi completed his M.S. in Spring 2017.
His first job after M.S. was with Hughes Network Systems, Germantown, MD.
Thesis: Average Link Rate Analysis over Finite Time Horizon in a Wireless Network

Shankar Krishnan 

Shankar Krishnan completed his M.S. in Summer 2016. (Google Scholar)
His first job after M.S. was with Qualcomm Research, San Diego, CA.
Thesis: Spatio-Temporal Correlation in the Performance of Cache-Enabled Cellular Networks

Sayantan Guha 

Sayantan Guha completed his M.S. in Fall 2015.
His first job after M.S. was with Hughes Network Systems, Germantown, MD.
Thesis: Cellular-Assisted Vehicular Communications: A Stochastic Geometric Approach

Visiting Ph.D. Students

Sundar Aditya 

Sundar Aditya (Ph.D. student, University of Southern California, Los Angeles)
Ph.D. Advisor at USC: Prof. Andreas F. Molisch
Aditya visited our group from Jan. 2017 to June 2018.

Atieh R. Khamesi 

Atieh R. Khamesi (Ph.D. student, University of Padova, Italy)
Ph.D. Advisor at Padova: Prof. Michele Zorzi
Atieh visited our group from Aug. 2017 to Feb. 2018.

Zeinab Yazdanshenasan 

Zeinab Yazdanshenasan (Ph.D. student, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore)
Ph.D. Advisor at NTU: Prof. Peter H. J. Chong
Zeinab visited our group in Fall 2015. Her visit was supported by the SINGA Fellowship.

Undergraduate Interns

  • Shuvam Chakraborty (Summer 2017)