Alumni

“Work hard and never give up.”

Jian Tang
Ph.D, Computer Science
Class of 2006

Jian Tang graduated from the School of Computing and Informatics at Arizona State University with a PhD in computer science in 2006. While at ASU, Tang received the CSE Outstanding PhD Student Award in 2006. Tang was also awarded an exclusive dissertation fellowship from the Division of Graduate Studies (DGS) for the 2005-2006 academic year. This fellowship is awarded to only five PhD students annually.

After graduation, he accepted the position of assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science at Montana State University: “Teaching and research are my two major responsibilities,” says Tang. He is now the principal investigator of a National Science Foundation-funded project, “Cross-layer Optimization for Dynamic Spectrum Access Wireless Mesh Networks,” and a state-funded project, “WiMAX-based Relay Node with Smart Adaptive Antennas for Mesh Networking.”

His goal for the Cross-layer Optimization for Dynamic Spectrum Access Wireless Mesh Networks project is to provide a comprehensive cross-layer solution for the emerging wireless mesh networks with cognitive radios. For the WiMAX-based Relay Node with Smart Adaptive Antennas for Mesh Networking project, he plans to develop a relay node and networking software infrastructure that will leverage a compact, low-cost, smart and adaptive antenna system with new chip-scale radio technologies to provide robust long-range and high-speed wireless communications. To date, his research results are proving successful. In the spring of 2008, he work received his department’s Excellence in Research Award.

In February 2009, Tang was honored with the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) most prestigious award for young faculty, the Faculty Early Career Development (Career) Award. The NSF funds research in science and engineering with grants, contracts and cooperative agreements. The award acknowledges the research, scholarship and teaching accomplishments of scientists and engineers in the early stages of their careers, and recognizes those who are demonstrating the potential to be leaders in advancing research and education in their areas of expertise. Tang received the NSF Career Award for his research seeking to provide a comprehensive networking solution for a WiMAX (IEEE 802.16) mesh network. His Career Award will provide about $400,000 to support the research. Tang is the first faculty member in the computer science department at MSU to receive this prestigious award.

As a native of Beijing, China, Tang eagerly seeks out opportunities to work with researchers in Beijing. Recently, he worked with a visiting scholar from Beijing University of Posts and Telecom to solve some scheduling problems in WiMAX networks. “I will be glad to host more in the future. In addition, I plan to visit some famous universities in Beijing in the summer of 2009” he adds. As a researcher, Tang has the following aspirations for the next five years: build up a strong research team including 3-5 Ph.D. students, solve some fundamental open problems in networking, generate a few high-impact papers and develop a large-scale wireless network test bed for performance evaluation and validation.

He points to his graduate experience within SCI as being especially beneficial to him as an instructor because of the friendly and helpful professors who helped him become an effective researcher and teacher. He believes, that “having a broad and deep understanding of different areas in computer science and engineering is very necessary to becoming a good professor within computer science department.” Tang recognizes his graduate advisor as an important source of his professional inspiration: “Dr. Guoliang Xue always believed in my abilities and gave me the full freedom to explore the interesting research topics, while providing invaluable advices along the way.”

Tang views two graduate courses, Data Structures and Algorithms and Probability and Random Processes, as some of his most useful coursework as a student: “I enjoyed solving real-life engineering problems.”His teaching experience includes CS440 Computer Networks, CS223 Data Structures and Algorithms and CS541 Advanced Networking. Part of Tang’s responsibilities includes teaching and mentoring undergraduate and graduate students. He is currently mentoring two Ph.D. students and two Master students.

Tang described the transition from a graduate student to a professor as a major research university as “tough”. He said, “I suddenly felt that I had to worry about many things other than research, such as funding issues, teaching and so on. I found out that teaching is much harder than learning. I not only need to fully understand the course materials but also figure out the best way to describe them to the students.”His success is a testament to the solid computer science foundation he fortified as a graduate student. His offers this advice to future computer science students: “Work hard and never give up.”