Alireza Vahid

About

I received my B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from Sharif University of Technology, and my M.Sc. and Ph.D. from the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Cornell University working with Professor Salman Avestimehr. I received the 2015 Best PhD Thesis Award and the 2011 Best PhD Teaching Award from Cornell. After receiving my PhD, I worked as a postdoctoral research fellow at Duke University with Professor Robert Calderbank. I joined the University of Colorado in August 2017. My research interests include network information theory, wireless communications, coding theory, and data storage.

Research

I work on a wide range of problems in information and coding theory and data communications. My research is inspired by the challenges of wireless networks beyond 5G (B5G), sequence assembly, and modern data storage technologies. Below is a list of my active projects.

Wireless Networking:

• Communications beyond 5G, antenna-algorithm co-design, spectrum sharing and coexistence, physical-layer security, intelligent surfaces

Sequence Assembly:

• New channel models for DNA storage, capacity results, computationally-efficient assembly, noisy sorting

Network Information Theory:

• Communications with imperfect feedback, capacity of heterogeneous networks, side-information vs. CSI allocation, ultra low-rate feedback regime

Other Domains and Interdisciplinary Work:

• Codes for emerging computer memory technologies, optimization and aggregate rank recovery, cyber-security and DNS traffic obfuscation, model sensitivity in environmental engineering

Journal Publications

[J23] A. Niakanlahiji, S. Orlowski, A. Vahid, H. Jafarian, “ Toward Practical Defense against Traffic Analysis Attacks on Encrypted DNS Traffic,,” Computers & Security, 2022.

[J22] S. Nassirpour, A. Gupta, A. Vahid, D. Bharadia, “ Power-Efficient Analog Front-End Interference Suppression with Binary Antennas,,” IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, 2022.

[J21] A. Ravi, A. Vahid, I. Shomorony, “ Coded Shotgun Sequencing,” IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Information Theory, 2022.

[J20] M. Askarzadeh, A. Vahid, A. Goodwell, “Evaluating Ecohydrological Model Sensitivity to Forcing Variability with an Information Theory-Based Approach,” Entropy, 2022.

[J19] A. Vahid, “ Topological Content Delivery with Feedback and Random Receiver Cache,” IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Information Theory, 2021.

[J18] A. Vahid, S. C. Lin, I. H. Wang, Y. C. Lai, “ Content Delivery over Broadcast Erasure Channels with Distributed Random Cache,” IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Information Theory, 2021.

[J17] I. Shomorony, A. Vahid, “ Torn-Paper Coding,” IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, 2021.

[J16] M. Johnny, A. Vahid, “ Low-Complexity Blind Interference Suppression with Reconfigurable Antennas,” IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, 2021.

[J15] S. C. Lin, I. H. Wang, A. Vahid, “ Capacity of Broadcast Packet Erasure Channels with Single-User Delayed CSI,” IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, 2021.

[J14] A. Vahid, S. C. Lin, I. H. Wang, “ Erasure Broadcast Channels with Intermittent Feedback,” IEEE Transactions on Communications, 2021.

[J13] S. Nassirpour, A. Vahid, “ On the Stability Regions of Intermittent Interference Networks,” IEEE Transactions on Communications, 2021.

[J12] T. Levy, A. Vahid, R. Giryes, “Ranking Recovery from Limited Comparisons using Low-Rank Matrix Completion,” journal of Applied and Computational Harmonic Analysis, 2020.

[J11] S. Nassirpour, A. Vahid, “Embedded Codes for Reassembling Non-Overlapping Random DNA Fragments,” IEEE Transactions on Molecular, Biological, and Multi-Scale Communications, 2020.

[J10] M. Johnny, A. Vahid, “Exploiting Coherence Time Variations for Opportunistic Blind Interference Alignment,” IEEE Transactions on Communication Theory, 2020.

[J9] A. Vahid, “On the Degrees-of-Freedom of Two-Unicast Wireless Networks with Delayed CSIT,” IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, 2019.

[J8] A. Vahid and R. Calderbank, “Throughput Region of Spatially Correlated Interference Packet Networks,” IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, 2019.

[J7] G. Mappouras, A. Vahid, R. Calderbank, D. Sorin, “Extending Flash Lifetime in Embedded Processors by Expanding Analog Choice,” IEEE Transactions on Computer-Aided Design Integrated Circuits and Systems, 2018.

[J6] A. Vahid, V. Aggarwal, S. Avestimehr, A. Sabharwal, “Interference Management with Mismatched Partial Channel State Information,” EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking, 2017.

[J5] A. Vahid, M. A. Maddah-Ali, S. Avestimehr “Binary Fading Interference Channel with No CSIT,” IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, vol. 63, no. 6, pp. 3565-3578, 2017.

[J4] A. Vahid and R. Calderbank, “Two-User Fading Interference Channel with Local Delayed CSIT,” IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, vol. 62, no. 9, pp. 4910-4923, 2016.

[J3] A. Vahid, M. A. Maddah-Ali, S. Avestimehr “Approximate Capacity Region of the MISO Broadcast Channels with Delayed CSIT,” IEEE Transactions on Communications, vol. 64, no. 7, pp. 2913-2924, 2016.

[J2] A. Vahid, M. A. Maddah-Ali, S. Avestimehr “Capacity Results for Binary Fading Interference Channels With Delayed CSIT,” IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, vol. 60, no. 10, pp. 6093-6130, 2014.

[J1] A. Vahid, C. Suh, S. Avestimehr “Interference Channels with Rate-Limited Feedback,” IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, vol. 58, no. 5, pp. 2788-2812, 2012.

Conference Publications

[C28] A. Narayan Ravi, A. Vahid, I. Shomorony, “Capacity of the Shotgun Sequencing Channel,” International Symposium on Information Theory (ISIT), 2022.

[C27] M. Abolfathi, I. Shomorony, A. Vahid, H. Jafarian, “A Game-Theoretically Optimal Defense Paradigm against Traffic Analysis Attacks using Multi-path Routing and Deception,” 27th ACM Symposium on Access Control Models and Technologies (SACMAT), 2022.

[C26] A. Vahid, “Harnessing Random Receiver Cache in Erasure Interference Channels with Feedback,” IEEE Global Communications Conference (GLOBECOM), 2021.

[C25] A. Vahid, “Distortion-Based Outer-Bounds for Channels with Rate-Limited Feedback,” International Symposium on Information Theory (ISIT), 2021.

[C24] A. Narayan Ravi, A. Vahid, I. Shomorony, “Capacity of the Torn Paper Channel with Lost Pieces,” International Symposium on Information Theory (ISIT), 2021.

[C23] I. Shomorony, A. Vahid, “Communicating over the Torn-Paper Channel,” IEEE Global Communications Conference (GLOBECOM), 2020.

[C22] S. C. Lin, I. H. Wang, A. Vahid, “Capacity of Erasure Broadcast Channels with Single-User Delayed CSI and Common Messages,” IEEE Global Communications Conference (GLOBECOM), 2020.

[C21] M. Johnny, A. Vahid, “Embedding Information in Radiation Pattern Fluctuations,” Proceedings of International Symposium on Information Theory (ISIT), 2020.

[C20] S. Nassirpour, A. Vahid, “Throughput, Delay, and Complexity Tradeoffs in Interference Channels,” 10th IEEE Annual Computing and Communication Workshop and Conference (CCWC), 2020. Winner Best Paper Award.

[C19] A. Vahid, I. H. Wang, S. C. Lin, “Capacity results for erasure broadcast channels with intermittent feedback,” IEEE Information Theory Workshop (ITW), 2019.

[C18] Mappouras, A. Vahid, R. Calderbank, D. Sorin, “GreenFlag: Protecting 3D-Racetrack Memory from Shift Errors,” 49th Annual IEEE/IFIP International Conference on Dependable Systems and Networks (DSN). Runner-up Best Paper Award.

[C17] S. C. Lin, I. H. Wang, A. Vahid, “No Feedback, No Problem: Capacity of Erasure Broadcast Channels with Single-User Delayed CSI,” International Symposium on Information Theory (ISIT), 2019.

[C16] A. Vahid, “Finite Field X-Channels with Delayed CSIT and Common Messages,” International Symposium on Information Theory (ISIT), 2018.

[C15] A. Vahid, R. Calderbank, “ARQ for Interference Packet Networks,” International Symposium on Information Theory (ISIT), 2018.

[C14] G. Mappouras, A. Vahid, R. Calderbank, D. Sorin, “Jenga: Efficient Fault Tolerance for Stacked DRAM,” proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Computer Design (ICCD), 2017.

[C13] A. Vahid, R. Calderbank, “When does spatial correlation add value to delayed channel state information?,” proceedings of International Symposium on Information Theory (ISIT), 2016.

[C12] G. Mappouras, A. Vahid, R. Calderbank, D. Sorin, “Methuselah Flash: Rewriting Codes for Extra-Long Storage Lifetime,” proceedings of the 46th Annual IEEE/IFIP International Conference on Dependable Systems and Networks (DSN 2016).

[C11] A. Eslami, A. Velasco, A. Vahid, G. Mappouras, R. Calderbank, D. Sorin, “Writing without Disturb on Phase Change Memories by Integrating Coding and Layout Design,” proceedings Memory Systems, 2015.

[C10] A. Vahid, I. Shomorony, R. Calderbank, “Informational Bottlenecks in Two-Unicast Wireless Networks with Delayed CSIT,” proceedings Allerton Conference, 2015.

[C9] A. Vahid and R. Calderbank, “Impact of local delayed CSIT on the capacity region of the two-user interference channel,” proceedings IEEE International Symposium on Information Theory, 2015.

[C8] A. Vahid, G. Mappouras, A. Velasco, R. Calderbank, D. Sorin, “Virtual Cells and Concatenated Codes for Flash Memory,” Fifth Non-Volatile Memories Workshop (NVMW), 2015.

[C7] A. Vahid, M. Ali Maddah-Ali, S. Avestimehr, “Binary Fading Interference Channel with No CSIT,” proceedings IEEE International Symposium on Information Theory, 2014.

[C6] A. Vahid, M. Ali Maddah-Ali, S. Avestimehr, “Communication Through Collisions: Opportunistic Utilization of Past Receptions,” proceedings IEEE Infocom, 2014.

[C5] A. Vahid, M. Ali Maddah-Ali, S. Avestimehr, “Approximate Capacity of the Two-User MISO Broadcast Channel with Delayed CSIT,” proceedings Allerton Conference, 2013.

[C4] A. Vahid, M. Ali Maddah-Ali, S. Avestimehr, “Binary Fading Interference Channel with Delayed Feedback,” proceedings IEEE International Symposium on Information Theory, 2012.

[C3] A. Vahid, M. Ali Maddah-Ali, S. Avestimehr, “Interference Channel with Binary Fading: Effect of Delayed Network State Information,” proceedings Allerton Conference, 2011.

[C2] A. Vahid, V. Aggarwal, S. Avestimehr, A. Sabharwal, “On the Capacity of Multi-hop Wireless Networks with Partial Network Knowledge,” proceedings Allerton Conference, 2010.

[C1] A. Vahid and S. Avestimehr, “The Two-User Deterministic Interference Channel with Rate-Limited Feedback,” proceedings IEEE International Symposium on Information Theory, 2010.

PhD Thesis

A. Vahid, “The Impact of Imperfect Feedback on the Capacity of Wireless Networks.”

Awards

• SONY Faculty Innovation Award, 2022.
• Dean's Faculty Fellow, CU Denver, 2022.
• Best Paper Award at IEEE CCWC with my PhD student, 2020.
• Lab Venture Challenge Award, 2019.
• New Faculty Research Award, CU Denver, 2019.
• Creative Research Collaborative (CRC) Fellowship, CU Denver, 2018.
• Best PhD Thesis Award, Cornell University, 2015.
• Qualcomm Innovation Award Winner (Innovation Title: Collaborative Interference Management), 2013.
• Director's PhD Teaching Assistant Award, Cornell University, 2011.
• Jacobs Scholar Fellowship, School of ECE, Cornell University, 2009.
• Ranked 2nd among over 360,000 participants in Iranian National University Entrance Exam, 2004.
• Silver medal, Iranian National Physics Olympiad, 2003.

Recent News

• November 2022 [Invited talk]: I gave a talk at CU Boulder.
• November 2022 [Journal Publication]: Our paper on practical defense against traffic analysis attacks is accepted in Computers & Security journal.
• November 2022 [Award/Grant]: I received the SONY Faculty Innovation Award.
• October 2022 [Journal Publication]: Our paper on power-efficient interference suppression with binary antennas is published in IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications.
• September 2022 [Invited talk]: I gave a talk on spectrum coexistence and sequence assembly at the Institute for the Wireless Internet of Things (WIoT) at Northeastern.
• September 2022 [Invited talk]: I gave a talk on wireless networking and data storage as part of the ECE colloquium series at Tufts University.
• September 2022 [Grant]: Our proposal on spectrum sensing and coexistence was selected for funding by the National Science Foundation.
• August 2022 [Grant]: Our proposal on computational antennas was selected for funding by the National Science Foundation.
• July 2022 [Service]: I join the editorial board of IEEE Communications Letters (COMML).
• June 2022 [New team member]: Welcoming Dr. Michael Huntington to our team for Summer'22 (supported by NSF RET).
• May 2022 [New team member]: Welcoming Dr. Tiep M Hoang to our team as a Postdoctoral Researcher.
• April 2022 [Conference Publication]: Our paper “Capacity of the Shotgun Sequencing Channel” with Aditya Ravi and Dr. Ilan Shomorony of UIUC is accepted in IEEE International Symposium on Information Theory (ISIT).
• April 2022 [Conference Publication]: Our paper on defense mechanism agains traffic analysis attacks is accepted in ACM SACTMAT.
• February 2022 [Journal Publication]: Our paper “Coded Shotgun Sequencing” with Aditya Ravi and Dr. Ilan Shomorony of UIUC is accepted in IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Information Theory.
• January 2022 [New team member]: Welcoming Dr. Dinh-Thuan Do to our team as a Postdoctoral Researcher.
• January 2022 [Award]: Honored to have been selected as the first-ever Dean's Faculty Fellow at the College of Engineering, Design, and Computing of CU Denver.
• November 2021 [Journal Publication]: My paper on topological content delivery is accepted for publication in IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Information Theory.
• November 2021 [Journal Publication]: Our paper on the capacity of broadcast channels with random cache with Drs. Shih-Chun Lin and I-Hsiang Wang of NTU is accepted for publication in IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Information Theory.
• September 2021 [Journal Publication]: Our paper “Torn-Paper Coding” with Dr. Ilan Shomorony of UIUC is accepted in IEEE Transactions on Information Theory.
• September 2021 [Journal Publication]: Our paper on interference suppression with reconfigurable antennas is accepted in IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications.
• August 2021 [Conference Publication]: One paper to appear in IEEE GLOBECOM 2021.
• August 2021 [Grant]: Our proposal on smart surfaces was selected for funding by the National Science Foundation.
• August 2021 [Journal Publication]: Our paper on the capacity of broadcast channels with single-user CSI is published in IEEE Transactions on Information Theory.
• July 2021 [Journal Publication]: Our paper on the stability region of intermittent interference networks is published in IEEE Transactions on Communications.
• July 2021 [Journal Publication]: Our paper on the capacity of erasure broadcast channels with intermittent feedback is published in IEEE Transactions on Communications.
• June 2021 [Award]: I was selected as one of the recipients of the Dean's Faculty Fellow program at CU Denver.
• April 2021 [Conference Publication]: Two papers to appear in IEEE ISIT 2021.
• March 2021 [Service]: I served as Technical Program Committee (TPC) member at ISIT'21.
• February 2021 [Service]: I served as Technical Program Committee (TPC) member at NVMW'21.
• December 2020 [Conference Publication]: Two papers presented at IEEE GLOBECOM. Thanks to Dr. Ilan Shomorony of UIUC, and Dr. Shih-Chun Lin of NTUST.
• December 2020 [Conference Publication]: One paper presented at AGU Fall Meeting. Thanks to Mozhgan Farahani and Dr. Allison Goodwell of CU Denver.
• November 2020 [Journal Publication]: Our paper “Embedded Codes for Reassembling Non-Overlapping Random DNA Fragments,” is published in IEEE Transactions on Molecular, Biological, and Multi-Scale Communications.
• August 2020 [Grant]: Our proposal on cross-layer interference management was selected for funding by the National Science Foundation.
• June 2020 [Conference Publication]: Our paper “Embedding Information In Radiation Pattern Fluctuations,” was presented at ISIT,2020.
• November 2019 [Award/Grant]: I received the 2019 Lab Venture Challenge Award.
• November 2019 [Grant]: I received funding from the State of Colorado to commercialize my research in wireless networking.
• August 2019 [Conference Publication]: I will give a talk on “Capacity Results for Erasure Broadcast Channels with Intermittent Feedback,” at ITW, Visby, Sweden.
• May 2019 [Invited Talk]: I will give a talk on “Improving High Performance Memory through Information Theory,” at the CS Department.
• April 2019 [Conference Publication]: Our paper “GreenFlag: Protecting 3D-Racetrack Memory from Shift Errors,” has been nominated as a best paper award candidate at DSN 2019!
• April 2019 [Conference Publication]: Our paper “No Feedback, No Problem: Capacity of Erasure Broadcast Channels with Single-User Delayed CSI,” has been accepted for presentation at ISIT 2019.
• March 2019 [Award/Grant]: I received the 2019 New Faculty Research Award from the University of Colorado.
• March 2019 [Journal Publication]: Our paper “On the Degrees-of-Freedom of Two-Unicast Wireless Networks with Delayed CSIT,” has been accepted for publication in IEEE Transactions on Information Theory.

Funding

• SONY 2022 (total project budget: $100k, role: PI). Topic: Beyond beamforming in wireless communications.
• NSF AST 2022 (total project budget: $1.5m, role: PI). Topic: Spectrum sensing and coexistence.
• NSF CNS 2022 (total project budget: $1.1m, role: PI). Topic: Computational Antennas.
• NSF CNS 2021 (total project budget: $500k, role: PI). Topic: Smart surfaces.
• NSF ECCS 2020 (total project budget: $500k, role: PI). Topic: Cross-layer interference management.
• Lab Venture Partners 2019 (total project budget: $125k, role: PI). Topic: Theia the antenna.
• State of Colorado 2019 (total project budget: $90k, role: PI). Topic: Opportunistic communications in dynamic systems.
• Qualcomm Inc. (total project budget: $100k, role: PI). Topic: Collaborative interference management.

Team

Vahid team at CU Denver, Summer 2022.

Postdoc(s):

• Dinh-Thuan Do, PhD
• Tiep M. Hoang, PhD

PhD student(s):

• Sajjad Nassirpour (PhD Candidate in Electrical Engineering)
• Masoumeh Abolfathi, co-advised with Dr. Jafarian (PhD Candidate in Computer Science)

Undergraduate(s):

• Timothy McCaffrey (supported by NSF REU, completed work in fall'21)

High-School teacher:

• Michael Huntington, PhD (supported by NSF RET)

High-School student intern(s):

• Judith Pacheco-Delgado

Available positions:

There are multiple PhD and postdoc positions available in my group. Strong and mathematical-oriented candidates are encouraged to submit their resume to me directly. Postdoctoral candidates may also apply at CU Careers.

I am also interested in working with graduate and undergraduate students as well as high-school teachers for short-term or summer projects.

Service

• 2021: Technical Program Chair (TPC) at IEEE International Symposium on Information Theory (ISIT).
• 2021: Technical Program Chair (TPC) at Non-Volatile Memories Workshop (NVMW).
• 2020: Chair of the student travel award at IEEE International Symposium on Information Theory (ISIT).
• 2020: Reviewer for Creative Research Collaborative (CRC) award at CU Denver.
• 2020: Committee member to revamp the Electrical Engineering undergraduate curriculum at CU Denver.

Contact

Teaching

University of Colorado Denver:

• Digital Communications (ELEC 4248/5248) — Spring'18, 19, 20
• Random Processes for Engineers (ELEC 5617) — Fall'18, 19, 20, 21, 22
• Digital Signal Processing (ELEC 4637/5637) — Spring'21
• Engineering Probability and Statistics (ELEC 3817) — Spring'19
• Information Theory (ELEC 5250) — Fall'17, 19

Duke University:

• Big data analytics mentor for Data+ program.

Cornell University:

• Teaching assistant for Random Signals in Communication. Winner of the Director's PhD Best Teaching Award.

Elements

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