Computer Students Get NSF Top Telecom Honors at IEEE Event

Newswise — UNC Charlotte's College of Computing and Informatics (CCI) today announced that Ph.D. students Fan Li and Lin Li from the Networking Research Lab won the Performance Award in the Mobile Ad-hoc Networking Interoperability and Cooperation (MANIAC) Challenge in Washington, D.C. The event, which is sponsored by the National Science Foundation Networking Technology and System program was held in conjunction with the 50th Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers Global Telecommunication Conference.

"I'm very proud of what our students accomplished," said team coach Yu Wang, Ph.D., assistant professor with the Networking Research Lab. "Not only does the competition allow our students to practice what they are learning here at CCI but it also gives me valuable feedback in terms of my on-going research in wireless ad-hoc networks."

The students received points based on how efficiently they were able to receive and transmit packets of information from the judges over a wireless ad-hoc network.

A wireless ad hoc network is a loose collection of wireless devices that are capable of communicating with each other without the aid of any established infrastructure or centralized administration. Minimal configuration and quick deployment make ad hoc networks suitable for emergency situations like natural disasters or military conflicts (providing communication network between rescuers or soldiers).

The decentralized nature of most wireless ad hoc networks makes them suitable for a variety of applications where central nodes cannot be relied on. Wireless ad hoc networks are also used to build wireless mesh networks and wireless sensor networks.

The CCI doctoral students also won the First Place of Presentation Award in the oral presentation competition sponsored by the IEEE Professional Communication Society.

Lin Li is a visiting Ph.D. student from China and will be studying in the Computer Science Department for the next year.

About the College of Computing and InformaticsThe College of Computing and Informatics provides academic programs in computer science, software and information systems, information technology, and bioinformatics. It is also the home to leading research centers and institutes, including the Bioinformatics Research Center, the Charlotte Visualization Center, the Diversity in Information Technology Institute, the Information Security and Assurance Center, the eBusiness Technology Institute, and the Software Solutions Lab.

About UNC Charlotte A public research university, UNC Charlotte is the fourth largest campus among the 17 institutions of the University of North Carolina system. It is the largest institution of higher education in the Charlotte region. The university offers 18 doctoral programs, 61 master's degree programs and 89 programs leading to bachelor's degrees. Fall 2007 enrollment exceeds 22,300 students, including 4,800 graduate students.