Research Group

Mohamed A. Abd-Elmagid received the B.Sc. degree in electronics and electrical communications engineering from Cairo University in 2014, the M.S. degree in wireless communications from Nile University in 2017, and the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from Virginia Tech in 2023, where he was advised by Prof. Harpreet S. Dhillon. From 2023 to 2025, he was a Postdoctoral Scholar in the ECE Department at The Ohio State University, hosted by Prof. Ness B. Shroff. His research interests include wireless networks, Age of Information (AoI), semantic communications, and Machine Learning. He is the recipient of the 2023 VT ECE Blackwell Award for his dissertation titled “Age of Information: Fundamentals, Distributions, and Applications”, and the WiOpt 2021 Best Student Paper Award. (Webpage) (Google Scholar) (LinkedIn)

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. (LinkedIn)

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 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)

Xiangchen Li is a Ph.D. student in the Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Virginia Tech, where he is co-advised by Prof. Nikolopoulos and Prof. Dhillon. He earned his M.Eng. from the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC) in 2022, and his B.Eng. from Sichuan University in 2019. His research focuses on machine learning systems, large language models, edge computing, and AI-enabled wireless communications. (LinkedIn)

Preston Pitzer is a Ph.D. student in the Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Virginia Tech. He received his B.S. degree in Computer Engineering and a B.S. in Mathematics from Virginia Tech in 2025. He worked as an undergraduate research assistant with the SuperDARN HF Radar Group from 2022-2025, developing visualization tools and low-cost instruments for measuring ionospheric radio propagation. His current research interests include information theory, wireless communications, and post-quantum cryptography. (LinkedIn)

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. (LinkedIn)

Don-Roberts Emenonye received his Ph.D. from Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA in 2025. He was a postdoctoral scholar (co-hosted with Prof. Mike Buehrer) in our group from Mar. 2025 to Apr. 2026. (Google Scholar)
First job after postdoc: Joined a stealth startup focused on LEO-based positioning

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 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 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

Harish K. Dureppagari completed his Ph.D. in Spring 2026. (Google Scholar)
First job after Ph.D.: Senior Engineer, Ofinno, Reston, VA, USA
Dissertation: Advancing Localization Architectures: Role of LEOs, Novel Algorithms, and Analytical Insights

Anish Pradhan completed his Ph.D. in Summer 2025. (Google Scholar)
First job after Ph.D.: Senior Systems Engineer, Tarana Wireless, Milpitas, CA, USA
Dissertation: Advancing RIS Optimization: From Ideal to Realistic Models

Don-Roberts Emenonye completed his Ph.D. in Spring 2025. (Google Scholar)
First position after Ph.D.: Postdoctoral Scholar at Virginia Tech with Prof. Harpreet S. Dhillon and R. Michael Buehrer
Full-time job after postdoc: Joined a stealth startup focused on LEO-based positioning
Dissertation: An Information-Theoretic Examination of Next Generation Location Systems: The Role of LEOs, RISs and the Near Field

Mohamed A. Abd-Elmagid completed his Ph.D. in Spring 2023. (Google Scholar)
First position after Ph.D.: Postdoctoral Scholar at The Ohio State University with Prof. Ness B. Shroff
Full-time job after postdoc: Research Assistant Professor in the Bradley Department of ECE at Virginia Tech
Dissertation: Age of Information: Fundamentals, Distributions, and Applications

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 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 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 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 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 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 completed his Ph.D. in Summer 2018. (Google Scholar)
First position after Ph.D.: Postdoctoral Scholar 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 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

Paul Broome completed his M.S. in Spring 2026.
His first job after M.S. was with CACI International Inc, Sterling, VA.
Thesis: Subband Stitching for D-Band Measurements

Nick Goradia completed his M.S. in Summer 2025.
His first job after M.S. was with Ciena, Atlanta, GA.
Thesis: Contemporary Approaches to Radar Detection: Robust Statistics, Reinforcement Learning, and Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces

Sam Brown completed his M.S. in Spring 2025.
His first job after M.S. was with Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD.
Thesis: Vision-Enhanced Communications: On the Benefits of NLOS/LOS Knowledge in Wireless Systems

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 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 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 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 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 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

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 (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 (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.