Ali H. Sayed

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Highly Cited Researcher

Brief Biography

A. H. Sayed is the Dean of Engineering at EPFL, Switzerland, where he also leads the Adaptive Systems Laboratory (https://asl.epfl.ch). He has served before as a distinguished professor and chair of electrical engineering at UCLA. He is a member of the US National Academy of Engineering and The World Academy of Sciences. He has also been recognized as a Highly Cited Researcher for several years and served as President of the IEEE Signal Processing Society in 2018 and 2019. He authored over 600 scholarly publications and nine books, including more recently the 3-volume treatise on Inference and Learning from Data, published by Cambridge University Press in 2022. His research areas include adaptation and learning theories, data and network sciences, statistical inference, and multi-agent networks. His work has received several major awards including the 2022 IEEE Fourier Technical Achievement Award, the 2020 IEEE Wiener Society Award, the 2015 Education Award, the 2013 Meritorious Service Award, and the 2012 Technical Achievement Award from the IEEE Signal Processing Society, the 2014 Papoulis Education Award from the European Association for Signal Processing, the 2005 Terman Award from the American Society for Engineering Education, the 2003 Kuwait Prize, and the 1996 IEEE Donald G. Fink Prize. His group has been awarded several Best Paper Awards from the IEEE (2002, 2005, 2012, 2014) and EURASIP (2015). He is a Fellow of IEEE, EURASIP, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the publisher of the journal Science

Degrees

  • Electrical Engineer, University of São Paulo, Brazil, December 1987.
  • MS in Electrical Engineering, University of São Paulo, Brazil, July 1989.
  • Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, August 1992.

Research

Prof. Sayed’s research interests span several areas including adaptation and learning theories, data and network sciences, statistical inference, multi-agent networks, and biologically-inspired designs.

University Experience

  • Dean of Engineering, EPFL, July 2017-present
  • Chair of Electrical Engineering, UCLA, July 2005- July 2010.
  • Vice-Chair of Electrical Engineering, UCLA, July 2002-June 2005.
  • Distinguished Professor of Electrical Engineering, UCLA, July 2015-June 2021.
  • Professor of Electrical Engineering, UCLA, July 2001-June 2021.
  • Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering, UCLA, July 1996-June 2001.
  • Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, UCSB, July 1993-June 1996.
  • Research Associate, Stanford University, Sep. 1992-June 1993.

Honors & Recognitions

  • IEEE Fourier Technical Achievement Award, 2022
  • The World Academy of Sciences, 2021
  • IEEE Norbert Wiener Society Award, 2020 (highest society honor)
  • Fellow, European Association for Signal Processing, 2019 (highest society honor)
  • Highly Cited Researcher by Clarivate Analytics, 2018.
  • US National Academy of Engineering, 2018.
  • Highly Cited Researcher by Clarivate Analytics, 2017.
  • Highly Cited Researcher, Thomson Reuters, 2016.
  • Highly Cited Researcher, Thomson Reuters, 2015.
  • Education Award, IEEE Signal Processing Society, 2015.
  • Best Paper Award, European Assoc. Signal Processing, 2015.
  • Best Paper Award, IEEE Signal Processing Society, 2014.
  • Highly Cited Researcher, Thomson Reuters, 2014.
  • Athanasios Papoulis Award, European Association for Signal Processing, 2014.
  • Meritorious Service Award, IEEE Signal Processing Society, 2013.
  • American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Fellow, 2013.
  • Leverhulme Visiting Professorship, United Kingdom, 2013-2015.
  • Technical Achievement Award, IEEE Signal Processing Society, 2012.
  • Best Paper Award, IEEE Signal Processing Society, 2012.
  • Young Author Best Paper Award, IEEE Signal Processing Society, 2005.
  • Frederick E. Terman Award, American Society for Engineering Education, 2005.
  • Distinguished Lecturer of the IEEE Signal Processing Society, 2005.
  • Kuwait Prize in Basic Sciences, 2003.
  • Best Paper Award, IEEE Signal Processing Society, 2002.
  • IEEE Fellow, 2001.
  • IEEE Donald G. Fink Prize, 1996.
  • Several distinguished, plenary, and named lectures, from 2000-present.
  • Several best paper awards and best student dissertation awards, 1996-present.
  • Institute of Engineering Prize, Top graduate of the School of Engineering, São Paulo, Brazil, 1987.
  • Conde Armando A. Penteado Prize, Top graduate in Electrical Engineering, São Paulo, Brazil, 1987.

Editorial Services

  • co-Editor, special issue, Proceedings IEEE, September 2019-2020.
  • Member of Editorial Board, IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, 2015-2018.
  • Member of Editorial Board, IEEE Signal Processing Magazine, Jan. 2012-Dec. 2014.
  • Editor-in-Chief, EURASIP Journal on Advances in Signal Processing, Jan. 2006-Dec. 2007.
  • Editor-in-Chief, IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing, Jan. 2003-Dec. 2005.
  • Subject Editor, Int. Journal of Adaptive Control and Signal Processing, Jan. 2000-Dec. 2005.
  • Member of Editorial Board, European Signal Processing journal, Jun. 2003-present.
  • Member of Editorial Board, IEEE Signal Processing Magazine, Jul. 2002-Dec. 2005
  • Member of Editorial Board, SIAM J. Matrix Analysis and Applications, Oct. 1998-Dec. 2004.
  • Associate Editor, IEEE Trans. Signal Processing, Dec. 1996-Dec. 1998, May 2000-May 2002.
  • Guest co-Editor, special issue of the IEEE Signal Processing Magazine, 2013.
  • Guest co-Editor, special issue of the IEEE J. Selected Topics in Signal Processing, 2013.
  • Guest co-Editor, special issues of the journal Linear Algebra and Its Applications, 1998 and 2000.

Professional Activities

  • IEEE Board of Directors, Jan. 2022-Dec. 2023.
  • Scientific Advisory Board, emergenCITY Project, TU Darmstadt, Germany, 2021-2023.
  • Editor-in-Chief, NOW Open Access Book Series on Information & Learning Sciences, 2021-present.
  • External Review Committee, Carnegie Mellon Portugal Program, 2021-present.
  • External Review Committee, KAIST, Korea, 2020.
  • IEEE Committee on Diversity and Inclusion, Jan. 2019-Dec. 2020.
  • President, IEEE Signal Processing Society, 2018 and 2019
  • President-Elect, IEEE Signal Processing Society, 2016-2017.
  • Board of Governors, IEEE Sensors Council, 2016-2017.
  • Member of several IEEE editorial boards and technical committees, 2011-2018.
  • Vice-President Publications, IEEE Signal Processing Society, Jan. 2009-Dec. 2011.
  • Organizer, NSF Workshop on Distributed Processing over Cognitive Networks, Nov. 19-20, 2009.
  • Board of Governors, IEEE Signal Processing Society, 2007-2011.
  • General Chair, IEEE ICASSP, Las Vegas, 2008.
  • Consultant to the communications industry and legal proceedings, 2000-present.
  • Member of several IEEE editorial boards and technical committees, 1998-2005.

University Service

  • Board of Directors, EPFL Center on Intelligent Systems, 2019-2023.
  • Steering Committee, Swiss Data Science Center, 2018-present.
  • Dean of Engineering, EPFL, since July 2017.
  • UCLA Council on Academic Personnel, Jan. 2016-June 2017.
  • UCLA Academic Senate Charges Committee, Sep. 2011-Aug. 2014.
  • Chair of Electrical Engineering, UCLA, July 2005-July 2010.
  • UCLA Science and Engineering Committee, 2007.
  • UC Committee on Preparatory Education (UCOPE), Sep. 2003-Sep. 2005.
  • UCLA Committee on Education and Technology (FCET), April 2003-June 2005.
  • UCLA Undergraduate Council, Sep. 2002-Sep. 2005.
  • Vice Chair of Electrical Engineering, July 2002-June 2005.