Dr. Khaled Ben Letaief
Dean of Engineering, Chair Professor of Electronic and Computer Engineering, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
"Engineering education around the world is at a crossroads and is facing major challenges. Our curriculum must be re-engineered in order to properly train the next generation of globally competitive leaders as well as attract the brightest high school students."
Khaled Ben Letaief is the Dean of Engineering at Hong Kong University of Science & Technology, where he also is Chair Professor of Electronic and Computer Engineering. He also is the director of the Hong Kong Telecom Institute of Information Technology and the Wireless IC System Design Center. He earned his BSEE with distinction from Purdue University in 1984; and his master’s and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from Purdue in 1986 and 1990, respectively.
Prior to his positions at Hong Kong University of Science & Technology and beginning in 1985, Letaief served as a graduate instructor in the School of Electrical Engineering at Purdue University, where he taught courses in communications and electronics. From 1990 to 1993, he was a faculty member at the University of Melbourne, Australia.
His current research interests include wireless and mobile networks, Broadband wireless access, OFDM, Cooperative networks, Cognitive radio, MIMO, and Beyond 3G systems. In these areas, Letaief has more than 400 journal and conference papers and has given keynote talks, as well as courses, all over the world. He also has three granted patents and 10 pending U.S. patents.
Letaief served as a consultant for different organizations and is the founding Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications. He has served on the editorial board of other prestigious journals including the IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications - Wireless Series, where he served as Editor-in-Chief. He has been involved in organizing a number of major international conferences and events, which include serving as the Co-Technical Program Chair of the 2004 IEEE International Conference on Communications, Circuits and Systems, ICCCS'04; the General Co-Chair of the 2007 IEEE Wireless Communications and Networking Conference, WCNC'07; Technical Program Co-Chair of the 2008 IEEE International Conference on Communications, ICC'08, and Vice General Chair of the 2010 IEEE International Conference on Communications, ICC'10.
Letaief served as an elected member of the IEEE Communications Society Board of Governors, and IEEE Distinguished Lecturer. He also served as Chair of the IEEE Communications Society Technical Committee on Wireless Communications, Chair of the steering committee of the IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, and Chair of the 2008 IEEE Technical Activities/Member and Geographic Activities Visits Program. He is a member of the IEEE Communications Society and IEEE Vehicular Technology Society Fellow Evaluation Committees, as well as a member of the IEEE Technical Activities Board/PSPB Products & Services Committee.
In addition to his active research activities, Letaief has been a dedicated teacher committed to excellence in teaching and scholarship. He received the Mangoon Teaching Award from Purdue University in 1990; the Teaching Excellence Appreciation Award by the School of Engineering at HKUST (four times); and the Michael G. Gale Medal for Distinguished Teaching, the highest university-wide teaching award – only one recipient each year is honored for his/her contributions.
Letaief is the recipient of other distinguished awards including the 2007 IEEE Communications Society Publications Exemplary Award; eight Best Paper awards; and the prestigious 2009 IEEE Marconi Prize Award in Wireless Communications. He is a Fellow of IEEE and the Vice-President for Conferences of the IEEE Communications Society.
Prior to his positions at Hong Kong University of Science & Technology and beginning in 1985, Letaief served as a graduate instructor in the School of Electrical Engineering at Purdue University, where he taught courses in communications and electronics. From 1990 to 1993, he was a faculty member at the University of Melbourne, Australia.
His current research interests include wireless and mobile networks, Broadband wireless access, OFDM, Cooperative networks, Cognitive radio, MIMO, and Beyond 3G systems. In these areas, Letaief has more than 400 journal and conference papers and has given keynote talks, as well as courses, all over the world. He also has three granted patents and 10 pending U.S. patents.
Letaief served as a consultant for different organizations and is the founding Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications. He has served on the editorial board of other prestigious journals including the IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications - Wireless Series, where he served as Editor-in-Chief. He has been involved in organizing a number of major international conferences and events, which include serving as the Co-Technical Program Chair of the 2004 IEEE International Conference on Communications, Circuits and Systems, ICCCS'04; the General Co-Chair of the 2007 IEEE Wireless Communications and Networking Conference, WCNC'07; Technical Program Co-Chair of the 2008 IEEE International Conference on Communications, ICC'08, and Vice General Chair of the 2010 IEEE International Conference on Communications, ICC'10.
Letaief served as an elected member of the IEEE Communications Society Board of Governors, and IEEE Distinguished Lecturer. He also served as Chair of the IEEE Communications Society Technical Committee on Wireless Communications, Chair of the steering committee of the IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, and Chair of the 2008 IEEE Technical Activities/Member and Geographic Activities Visits Program. He is a member of the IEEE Communications Society and IEEE Vehicular Technology Society Fellow Evaluation Committees, as well as a member of the IEEE Technical Activities Board/PSPB Products & Services Committee.
In addition to his active research activities, Letaief has been a dedicated teacher committed to excellence in teaching and scholarship. He received the Mangoon Teaching Award from Purdue University in 1990; the Teaching Excellence Appreciation Award by the School of Engineering at HKUST (four times); and the Michael G. Gale Medal for Distinguished Teaching, the highest university-wide teaching award – only one recipient each year is honored for his/her contributions.
Letaief is the recipient of other distinguished awards including the 2007 IEEE Communications Society Publications Exemplary Award; eight Best Paper awards; and the prestigious 2009 IEEE Marconi Prize Award in Wireless Communications. He is a Fellow of IEEE and the Vice-President for Conferences of the IEEE Communications Society.