Outstanding Researcher Dr. Hairong Qi
Hairong Qi, an associate professor in the Min H. Kao Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS), has compiled a notable record of achievement in her field since joining the UT COE faculty in 1999.
Qi received her B.S. and M.S. degrees in computer science from Northern Jiao Tong University in Beijing, P.R. China, and her Ph.D. from North Carolina State University in Raleigh, North Carolina.
"I initially investigated employment in commercial industry after receiving my doctorate," she said. "However, my heart was in research and so I decided to become a university professor."
After Qi joined the EECS department, she began collaborating with researchers at Louisiana State University and Duke University on a project to create a wireless sensor network that could be placed in a potentially hazardous environment, such as a military battlefield, to collect data on enemy personnel or suspicious activities that occur in a particular area. The research, funded by the Defense Research Projects Agency (DARPA), is based on the theory that a sensor network is less expensive to produce, operates more efficiently and is also not as vulnerable to overall performance failure as a central "super computer;" if one sensor goes out, its function can be replaced by the others in the network.
Qi's project, "CAREER: Collaborative Signal and Information Processing in Sensor Networks" received a National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER award in May 2005. The grant is funded through 2010.
Potential applications of Qi's sensor network research include environmental and traffic monitoring; biochemical agent detection; target detection, classification, localization and tracking in battlefield surveillance; and human health monitoring using biosensors mounted on the human body.
In addition to the NSF award, Qi has also received other noteworthy recognitions including the UT Chancellor's Award for Professional Promise in Research and Creative Achievement in 2004; the UT Angie Warren Perkins Award for Women Junior-Level Faculty Scholarship, Teaching, and other Significant Contributions in 2004; and the COE's Leon and Nancy Cole Superior Teaching Award in 2003.
In her role as a professor, Qi feels strongly about maintaining an open door policy with her students to assist with questions or difficulties.
"I always try to keep a journal in order to see what I have accomplished that day," Qi commented. "I also start keeping a journal for each graduate student doing research with me. It makes me feel that I'm making progress to note if I've helped a student to solve a problem, or if someone talks with me about a new idea for research. I feel responsible for the students. My class might not be easy, but I want the students to really learn the material. When I teach, I try to explain things from their view point. When you get a student excited about a topic, that's a good feeling."
While Qi spends much of her research time working with computers, she also values the communication with her students and professional colleagues.
"I'm not necessarily an outgoing person, but I'm starting to enjoy the task of interacting with others," she said. "I would like to work more with colleagues to exchange knowledge and to discover the ways that we complement one another."
Collaboration, Qi adds, whether between sensors in a network or people at a university, is the key to success.