Virginia Tech Institute for Advanced Computing

Thanks to Zhu Ji's invitation, I visited Meta's office in Sunnyvale, CA to deliver a seminar on our group's recent updates "Learning at the Speed of Wireless:  Online Real-Time Neural Receiver for MIMO Detection in NextG" Specifically, I talked about online real-time neural receiver (#neuralreceiver) and mobile distributed MIMO (#mDMIMO). I also showed the video of our online real-time neural receiver for Zak-OTFS to achieve integrated sensing and communication (#ISAC) for free :) Overall, it is a great technical exchange with many outstanding colleagues in Meta including Liwen (Grace) Yu. Hope Meta will play an important role in helping define #KillerApps for 6G. It is also great to have the opportunity to re-union with my college classmate Yiran Li and my former Samsung colleague Hongyu Zhou. They are doing extremely well in Meta and set up good inspirational examples for me :)

Thankful for you, Hokies. 🧡

Three Virginia Tech researchers have been named 2025 Jacob A. Lutz III Eminent Scholars, the university’s highest honor for long-term, high-impact research and creative scholarship across a faculty member’s career. Congratulations to: - Walid Saad, Rolls-Royce Commonwealth Professor of Virginia Tech Bradley Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering and Virginia Tech Institute for Advanced Computing - Joe Eska, Professor of English, Virginia Tech College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences - Robert Gourdie, Heywood Fralin Endowed Professor, Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC The honors were presented during Virginia Tech's Celebrating Scholarly Excellence event on Nov. 6 in Blacksburg. In total, more than 70 faculty were recognized for achievements in research, scholarship, and creative activity. To read more about the three eminent scholars — and to view the full list of faculty honorees — find the link in the comments. #VTResearch #ResearchAwards #FacultyAwards #ScholarlyImpact

IEEE ICDM 2025, one of the world’s premier conferences in data mining, has successfully concluded in Washington, D.C. This year’s edition was our largest and most energetic since the COVID-19 pandemic, with 861 registrants from around the world. Serving as General Co-Chair has been a tremendous honor. I attended ICDM 2022 (Orlando) and ICDM 2023 (Shanghai) to learn the conference operations. In 2024, I co-organized IEEE Big Data with Fusheng, Wei, and Liping, and this year I had the privilege of partnering with Dimitrios, Wei, Jilles, and Fusheng to lead ICDM 2025. We encountered several unexpected challenges, including a U.S. federal government shutdown, temporary Smithsonian closures, flight cancellations, and visa issues. Thanks to the dedication of our Organizing Committee and volunteer team, the conference still ran smoothly from start to finish. Highlights of ICDM 2025 • 39 workshops across four days • 170+ main-conference papers (22% acceptance rate), reflecting a selective and rigorously reviewed program • Keynotes from Harvard, UVA, and Stanford, offering insights on biological networks, foundation models, and relational AI • Three panels spanning probabilistic modeling, AI-driven data mining, and a cross-sector plenary discussion • 12 tutorials, 30+ system demonstrations, and multiple innovation showcases • High School & Undergraduate Symposium with 80+ teams, one of our most successful student programs • REU Symposium, PhD Forum, Blue Sky Forum, and Women in Science Forum • A memorable Spy Museum banquet featuring a curated culinary journey, immersive exhibits, cultural performances, and the ICDM award presentation • Daily breakfasts, lunches, coffee breaks, and a professional IEEE photo backdrop supporting networking and community Each day, more than 500 participants filled the rooms with energy, ideas, and meaningful conversations—making ICDM 2025 one of the most vibrant and engaging editions in recent years. My deepest thanks to Fusheng and Wei, long-time collaborators whose support was essential throughout months of preparation and the final intense days. I am also grateful to every member of our Organizing Committee—your leadership across logistics, finance, workshops, publications, sponsorships, demos, student programs, registration, web operations, outreach, and volunteer coordination made this conference possible. A special thank-you to Professor Shashi Shekhar, our Honorary Chair and my Ph.D. advisor at the University of Minnesota, for his guidance and support throughout the event. To all attendees, volunteers, speakers, and students: thank you for your enthusiasm and contributions. ICDM 2025 was a true celebration of collaboration, community, and innovation in data mining and AI. I look forward to seeing everyone at future conferences as we continue advancing the field and its global impact.