Abdullah Hossain - ECE PhD Student of the Month - November 2023
Abdullah Hossain, born and raised in New York City, is a Ph.D. candidate in Electrical Engineering with nearly 20 journal and conference publications. His research interests are diverse including integrated sensing and communications, photonics, radio access, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), optical, and core networks. He worked as an engineer for the Consolidated Edison Company of New York and held a research position at Futurewei Technologies. For several years, he has been an Adjunct Lecturer for the City University of New York.
What would you say that could be the next big thing in your area of research?
Regarding UAV networks, I believe the next leap would be to integrate coordinated multi-point (CoMP) techniques. CoMP, which is expected to become more mainstream in future access networks, entails the dynamic coordination of data transmission and reception across several physically dispersed nodes to enhance network performance. Due to its multi-node nature, it introduces complex challenges such as optimizing the set of serving base stations and/or UAVs per user, wireless resource allocation, coordination among multiple UAVs, location/trajectory optimization for collision avoidance, and handover due to the mobility of both users and UAVs.
Advisors of PhD students have very different styles. For example, some offer more attention and advice while others expect students to be mostly independent. How do you describe the style of your advisor and what do you think is the advantage?
My mentor, Dr. Nirwan Ansari, strikes the optimal balance between managing students and fostering their independence. At the earlier stages, he will be more involved with the students to help them navigate through their research and the program. However, as students advance, he will loosen his reins to afford more leeway for exploration and specialization. Not only does this show that he has the utmost confidence in them, but it also fosters high productivity since students pursue what truly interests them. As researchers, we know that to truly be productive, we need to genuinely be passionate about our topics. Otherwise, you will quit at the slightest setback.
As a graduating PhD student, regardless of your personal job plan, what's your opinion on landing a job that sits much outside of the area of your PhD studies?
This is a very good question and I have been pondering upon this myself for quite some time now. The answer definitely varies from person to person. While we do specialize in a very narrow area in the doctoral training, we also have gained the intellectual prowess to adapt to a variety of areas. My own research publications have been quite diverse over the last few years, and I am confident in my ability to adapt. However, it is not only a question of adapting but also genuine interest as I emphasized earlier. I would prefer to stick to my area but am open to others so long as they are truly exciting for me. Realistically speaking though, strictly limiting yourself to just your current area restricts your job prospects too much so one should have an open mind about other areas as well.