At the IEEE International Conference on Computer Communications (INFOCOM), the world’s premier conference on networking, researchers present and exchange innovative ideas in networking and other closely related areas. As an area chair of the technical program committee (TPC) and a leader in the field, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Tian Lan is playing a key role in the 2025 conference. He invited all members to convene at the Science & Engineering Hall in November 2024 for a TPC meeting and the inaugural INFOCOM Distinguished Lectures series.
“This was the first in-person TPC meeting since COVID-19, with around 140 TPC members and leading researchers in the field of networking from all over the world,” Lan stated.
As an area chair, Lan represents GW Engineering among faculty from universities worldwide. This allows him to not only connect with fellow researchers but also shape the conference program through accepted papers and planned workshops. Together, the committee put together a technical program covering a broad spectrum of critical topics in networking, from 5G connectivity and cloud networks to distributed learning.
The distinguished lectures series set the stage for the groundbreaking discussions that will take place at the conference in May 2025. The inaugural lectures were given by Edward Knightly, the Shaefor-Lindsay Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Computer Science at Rice University, and Baochun Li, the Bell Canada Endowed Chair in Computer Engineering at the University of Toronto, a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering, and a Fellow of the Engineering Institute of Canada.
Knightly opened the series with “Sub-terahertz Mobility and Security,” highlighting how to capitalize on the benefits of sub-terahertz spectrum access while addressing challenges like potential temporary power outages and its unique security capabilities. Li followed with “Reproducible Research Is Both Hard and Helpful: A Case Study on Federated Learning,” offering insights into the complexities of ensuring reproducibility in federated learning research and the critical need for benchmarking platforms to evaluate and compare findings fairly.
Lan’s leadership has brought global experts to GW Engineering, solidifying our role as a hub for collaboration. His continued contributions to the networking field, including his co-authored paper, “Network Diffuser for Placing-Scheduling Service Function Chains with Inverse Demonstration,” accepted at INFOCOM 2025, exemplify his commitment to advancing cutting-edge research in networking. This work is sponsored by an ONR grant.