Category Archives: Ph.D.

Proud Academic Heritage

Thanks to the Mathematics Genealogy Project, my labmates and I have recently compiled a chart of our academic ancestors, which traces Ph.D. advisor-advisee relationships back to the 1600s. We compiled the chart and got it framed for our advisor’s Gil Zussman‘s … Continue reading

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WimNet’s Columbia University Electrical Engineering Department Awards

My research group (that is, professor Gil Zussman‘s WimNet lab) has had a very good day today, at the Columbia University Electrical Engineering Department BBQ where this year’s graduate student awards were announced. Saleh Soltan received the Armstrong Memorial Award, … Continue reading

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Mentoring Students

While much is written about various approaches and activities grad students can use to keep engaged and motivated and to succeed (such as wonderful advice provided here, here, here, here, and in many other articles and posts), one particular useful … Continue reading

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My favorite collection: running countries and states

When I was in grad school, I started a bit of a game with myself, keeping track of countries, states, and provinces where I went running. The rules of this game are simple: a country, a state, or a province … Continue reading

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Ph.D. Dissertation Defended

Yes, I did it! Wednesday April 24th, 4pm EST, following a presentation attended by many of my fellow WimNet group members and coauthors from other groups, and following an intense and engaged period of questioning by the committee, I was … Continue reading

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Why are we Doing This? (1) Learning, (2) Growth.

Rob Margolies, a Ph.D. student in my research group, has recently written a great blog post about why Ph.D. students push themselves so hard. In short, it is because we really feel that we are learning and growing, in many … Continue reading

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Microsoft Research Presentation Video

A video of a talk I recently gave at Microsoft Research Seattle is now available online. In this talk I introduced the Energy Harvesting Active Networked Tags Project and talked about my contributions to the project and to the overall … Continue reading

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Top 10 Reasons Students Fail A Ph.D.

I found a lovely summary of the typical reasons Ph.D. students struggle and fail. Well worth reading over for inspiration and reflection. My favorite part: “A Ph.D. is not the final undertaking. It’s the start of a scientific career. A … Continue reading

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Postdocs in Canada: Banting Postdoctoral Fellowships

I have not been keeping up with Canadian NSERC grant options, and only now discovered Banting Postdoctoral Fellowships, that offer attractive postdoctoral salaries to both Canadian and international researchers. Fantastic opportunities for foreigners that want to build a scientific career … Continue reading

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2011 IEEE Communications Society Award

I received the 2011 IEEE Communications Society Award for Advances in Communications earlier this month at the 2011 IEEE GLOBECOM award ceremony in Houston, TX.  This award recognizes papers that open new lines of work, envision bold approaches to communication, … Continue reading

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