Young Professionals (YP) Program

Dr. Eirini Eleni Tsiropoulou is an Associate Professor, Computer Engineering Chair, and Director of Recruiting and Admissions at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of New Mexico. She obtained her Diploma, MBA, and PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens in 2008, 2010, and 2014, respectively. Her main research interests lie in the area of integrated communications and computing systems, with emphasis on network modeling and optimization. Five of her papers received the Best Paper Award and she was selected by the IEEE ComSoc N2Women as one of the top ten Rising Stars of 2017 in communications and networking.

Moayad Aloqaily received a Ph.D. degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Ottawa, Canada, in 2016. He has been with different industries, he was a Senior Researcher and Data Scientist with Gnowit Inc., 2016 to 2019. He also worked with Cheetah Network Canada from 2019 to 2020. He is the Managing Director of xAnalytics Inc., Canada, since 2019. He was an Instructor with the SYSC Department, at Carleton University, Canada, in 2017. From 2018-2019, he was an assistant professor at the American University of Middle East (AUM), Kuwait. From 2019-2021, he was the Cybersecurity Program Director and an assistant professor at the Faculty of Engineering, Al Ain University, UAE. He is currently with the Machine Learning Department, at Mohamed Bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI), UAE. He was the recipient of many honors and awards, such as best paper awards of 2020 Ad Hoc Networks Journal, 2021 Computer Networks, 2022 IEEE IWCMC, 2022 IEEE MeditCom, 2022 IEEE Globecom, and 2023 IEEE Metaverse. His current research interests include the applications of AI and ML, blockchain solutions, and sustainable energy and data management. Dr. Aloqaily has chaired and co-chaired many IEEE conferences and workshops. He serves on the Editorial Board of many prestigious journals and guest editor in many journals. He was appointed the Co-Editor-in-Chief of IEEE CommSoft TC eLetter in 2020. He started his Special Interest Groups on Blockchain and Applications as well as the Internet of Unmanned Aerial Networks. He is an IEEE Senior Member, ACM Member, and a Professional Engineer Ontario (P.Eng.). He is the founder and director of artifitialleap.ai laboratory.

YESSICA SAEZ BARRIOS is an electronics and telecommunications engineer, graduated from the Technological University of Panama and a specialist in higher education from the University of the Isthmus of Panama. She holds an MEng and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, USA. She currently works as a researcher professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering of the Technological University of Panama, where she serves as the Research Coordinator of the Azuero Region Branch. She is the coordinator of the Research Group on Telecommunications Engineering and Intelligent Systems Applied to Society (ITSIAS), where she collaborates in several research projects financed by different institutions.

She is a member of the National Research System (SNI) of Panama. Dr. Sáez is the Student Competition Representative for the Women in Communication Engineering Committee (WICE). She was the Chair of the Communications Society (COMSOC) of the IEEE – Panama Section from 2021-2022 and is a member of the board of directors of the IEEE – Panama Section for 2023-2024. Dr. Sáez is the Director for IEEE ComSoc Latinamerican Region for 2024-2025.

M. Fátima Domingues, at present, is an Assistant Professor at the Biomedical Engineering and Biotechnology Department at Khalifa University, Abu Dhabi UAE and a Researcher at Instituto de Telecomunicações – Aveiro.

M. Fátima Domingues received her PhD in Physics Engineering from University of Aveiro, and her research interests embrace new photonic based sensing solutions and its biomedical and e-Health applications. Dr. Domingues authored and co-authored more than +110 publications, resulting in the current H-index of 26 with a +2300 citations. She is part of the organizing committee of different conferences and scientific meetings, including IEEE HealthCom 2022 and IEEE ICC 2024. She is an IEEE Senior Member and an active member of several IEEE Societies.

Jaime Galán-Jiménez received the Ph.D. in computer science and communications from the University of Extremadura in 2014. He is currently with the Computer Science and Communications Engineering Department, University of Extremadura, as Associate Professor. His main research interests are energy efficiency in SDN networks, application of AI/ML techniques for computer networks, UAV-based networks, digital twin networks and mobile ad-hoc networks.

Dr. Baek-Young Choi is a Professor of Computer Science in the School of Science and Engineering at the University of Missouri – Kansas City (UMKC). She received her Ph.D. degree in Computer Science and Engineering from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. Her research interests generally lie in the broad area of networking and communications, with specific emphasis on Internet-of-Things, software-defined networking, cybersecurity, and smart city technologies. She published five books on network monitoring, storage systems, cloud computing and Interent of Things. She has been a faculty fellow of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory’s Visiting Faculty Research Program (AFRL-VFRP) and Korea Telecom’s - Advance Institute of Technology (KT-AIT). She has served as an associate editor for a number of journals, including IEEE Internet-of-Things Journal, Elsevier Journal Computer Networks, Springer Journal of Telecommunication Systems, and IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine. Her works received multiple Best Paper awards as well as Best Video and Best Poster awards. She has delivered keynotes and tutorials, and served as a general chair, technical program co-chair, and many other organizational committees for many conferences and workshops. She is a senior member of ACM and IEEE, and was a Chair of Women in Communications Engineering (WICE) in the IEEE Communications Society (ComSoc) (2022-23). Currently, she is an IEEE ComSoc Distinguished Lecturer, Associate Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Communications Magazine, the Chair of the IEEE ComSoc Sister & Related Societies Committee, and a member of IEEE ComSoc GLOBECOM/ICC Technical Content and Financial Committees.

Joyce Mwangama received her Ph.D., M.Sc., and B.Sc(Eng) in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Cape Town (South Africa) in 2017, 2011 and 2008, respectively. She is an Associate Professor and currently heads the Telkom Centre for Broadband Networks and Applications research in the Department of Electrical Engineering at the University of Cape Town. Joyce's research is in smart city platforms, 5G-enabled testbeds, and digital health solutions. Beyond academia, She actively contributes to policy-making in 5G Research and Development as Chair of the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa 5G Forum Working Group. She also has a role in the IEEE Communication Society Women Committee (WICE) to foster inclusivity and diversity in STEM fields.

Mehrnaz Afshang is a senior researcher at Ericsson Research in Silicon Valley, USA. Currently, she leads Ericsson's 6G IoT project, engages in several industrial-university collaborations for shaping 6G, and actively contributes to 3GPP standardization of 5G-advanced. She joined Ericsson in 2018 following her postdoctoral experience in the Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Virginia Tech. She earned her Ph.D.  from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, in 2016. She is the recipient of the Ericsson 2022 Impact Award for extraordinary impact on Ericsson's business success and the 2016 Rising Star Award for the top 60 women in the field of computer and electrical engineering. With over 50 issued patents and 40 publications in flagship IEEE journals and conferences, her research spans various areas, including 6G networks, IoT and zero energy devices, communication theory, mmWave communication, and full-duplex communication.

Dr. Periklis Chatzimisios serves as a Professor in the Department of Information and Electronic Engineering at the International Hellenic University (Greece). Moreover, he has been awarded the title of Researcher Professor by the University of New Mexico (USA). He is also a Visiting Fellow in the Faculty of Science & Technology, Bournemouth University (UK). He is currently serving as Vice-Chair for Working Group 1 (Use cases, KPIs and future market and business scenarios) and a Board Member for the one6G Association. Dr. Chatzimisios is/has been involved in several standardization and IEEE activities serving as a Member of Education Services Board, Standards Program Development Board, Industry Outreach Board and Online Content Board under the IEEE Communication Society (ComSoc). He was the Chair of the IEEE ComSoc Young Professionals Standing Committee, Chair of the Communications Chapter & Professional Activities for the IEEE Greece Section and an active member of the IEEE Future Networks Initiative. Prof. Chatzimisios is in the Top 2% Most Influential Scientists in the Stanford University list (years 2020-2023) in the area of Networking & Telecommunications.

Octavia A. Dobre (Fellow, IEEE) is a Professor and Canada Research Chair Tier 1 with Memorial University, Canada. Her research interests encompass wireless communication and networking technologies, as well as optical and underwater communications. She has (co-)authored over 500 refereed papers in these areas.

Dr. Dobre serves as the VP Publications of the IEEE Communications Society (ComSoc). She was the IEEE ComSoc Director of Journals, the inaugural Editor-in-Chief (EiC) of the IEEE Open Journal of the Communications Society, and the EiC of the IEEE Communications Letters.

Dr. Dobre was a Fulbright Scholar, Royal Society Scholar, and Distinguished Lecturer of the IEEE Communications Society. She obtained Best Paper Awards at various conferences, including IEEE ICC, IEEE Globecom, IEEE WCNC, and IEEE PIMRC. Dr. Dobre is an elected member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts, a Fellow of the Engineering Institute of Canada, and a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering.

George Karagiannidis (Fellow, IEEE) is currently Professor in the ECE Dept. of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece and Head and founder in 2004 of the Wireless Communications & Information Processing (WCIP) group.

From 2012 to 2015 he was the Editor-in Chief of IEEE Communications Letters and from January 2024 he is the Editor-in Chief of IEEE Transactions on Communications.

He has received three prestigious awards: The 2021 IEEE ComSoc RCC Technical Recognition Award, the 2018 IEEE ComSoc SPCE Technical Recognition Award and the 2023 Humboldt Senior Research Award from Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.

Dr. Karagiannidis is one of the highly-cited authors across all areas of Electrical Engineering, recognized from Clarivate Analytics as Highly-Cited Researcher in the nine consecutive years 2015-2023.

Marco Di Renzo is a CNRS Research Director and the Head of the Intelligent Physical Communications group in the Laboratory of Signals and Systems at Paris-Saclay University – CNRS and CentraleSupelec, Paris, France. He is a Fellow of the IEEE, IET, EURASIP, AAIA; an Academician of AIIA; an Ordinary Member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts; an Ordinary Member of the Academia Europaea; and a Highly Cited Researcher. He holds the 2023 France-Nokia Chair of Excellence in ICT (Finland), the 2023 Tan Chin Tuan Exchange Fellowship in Engineering at Nanyang Technological University (Singapore), and is the 2024 Ambassador of the European Association on Antennas and Propagation. He served as the Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Communications Letters in 2019-2023, and he is currently serving as the Director of Journals of the IEEE Communications Society. He is also a Founder, Vice-Chair and Rapporteur of the Industry Specification Group on RIS in the European Telecommunications Standards Institute. In 2022, he was awarded the Michel Monpetit Prize from the French Academy of Sciences for his research work on metamaterials for wireless communications.

Yi Qian received a Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from Clemson University in May 1996. He is currently a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL). Prior to joining UNL, he worked in the telecommunications industry, academia, and government. His research interests include cybersecurity and communication network security, and computer and communication networks. Prof. Yi Qian is a Fellow of IEEE. He was previously the Chair of the IEEE Technical Committee for Communications and Information Security. He was the Technical Program Chair for IEEE International Conference on Communications 2018. He serves or has served on the Editorial Boards of several international journals and magazines, including as the Editor-in-Chief for IEEE Wireless Communications between July 2018 and June 2022. He was a Distinguished Lecturer for IEEE Vehicular Technology Society and a Distinguished Lecturer for IEEE Communications Society. Prof. Yi Qian is the principal author of a textbook, Security in Wireless Communication Networks, published by IEEE Press/Wiley in 2022.

Filippo Malandra is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering at the University at Buffalo and director of the Wireless Network for Smart Systems (WN4SS) Lab. He received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Polytechnique Montreal in 2016, and a B.Eng. and a M.Eng. in Telecommunications Engineering from Politecnico di Milano in 2008 and 2011, respectively. His research interests include the performance analysis and design of cellular networks for smart cities, smart grid, and IoT applications, and the design of new solutions to provide broadband Internet access to underserved communities.

Alice E. Franks Franks is a graduate of the University of Denver Graduate School of Professional Psychology . She has worked within University Counseling Center settings for almost 20 years. Prior to that she worked in a variety of community mental health settings, including indigenous communities in the Western United States.

I have been working in non-profits for the past 10 years in various capacities. I have spent the past 10 years in service of historically marginalized communities mostly in New York City and in the past year in the Denver metro area. My work includes and it is not limited to fiercely advocating for people targeted by family, criminal and immigration court systems. My proudest professional moment is to have served my community of The Bronx in many capacities, as a psychotherapist, advocate and academic advisor. I am looking forward to supporting the student body at DU.

A fifth year Doctoral Student in Counseling Psychology at Texas A&M University, he has completed externships at a variety of settings including college counseling centers, community mental health clinics, and hospitals.

Areas of professional interest include: LatinX mental health, anxiety, burnout, relationship concerns, depression, greek life, and trauma.