IEEE ComSoc Distinguished Lecture Tour to Taiwan and San Diego: A Journey of Knowledge Sharing, Ideas Exchange, and Cultural Experience

By Shiwen Mao - IEEE ComSoc Distinguished Lecturer, Auburn University, USA

I successfully completed an IEEE ComSoc Distinguished Lecture Tour (DLT) to Taiwan and San Diego, CA, USA in late March and early April. It was a very nice trip to meet old friends, make new friends, talk to researchers, educators, and students, and enjoy the hospitality on both sides of the Pacific Ocean, as well as a nice experience of Asian and US cultures.

In this DLT, I delivered eight talks, scheduled as follows:

  • At National Yunlin University of Science and Technology, Yunlin, Taiwan, hosted by Prof. Arun Kumar Sangaiah, Mar. 26, 2024

  • At National Yunlin University of Science and Technology, Yunlin, Taiwan, Hosted by Prof. Arun Kumar Sangaiah, Mar. 26, 2024

  • At National Yunlin University of Science and Technology, Yunlin, Taiwan, Hosted by Prof. Arun Kumar Sangaiah, Mar. 26, 2024

  • At National Sun Yat-sen University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, hosted by Profs. Prof. Chun-I Fan and Chun-Wei Tsai, Mar. 27, 2024

  • At National Cheng Kung University, Tainan City, Taiwan, hosted by Prof. Y.B. Jason Lin, Mar. 28, 2024

  • At IEEE ComSoc Tainan Chapter (at National Sun Yat-sen University), Kaohsiung, Taiwan, hosted by Prof. Chao-Kai Wen, Apr. 2, 2024

  • At IEEE ComSoc Taipei Chapter (at Research Center for Information Technology, Academia SINICA), Taipei, Taiwan, hosted by Prof. Ai-Chun Pang, Apr. 3, 2024

  • At IEEE ComSoc San Diego Chapter & IEEE San Diego Section (at Qualcomm), San Diego, CA, USA, hosted by Dr. Liangping Ma, Apr. 10, 2024

Talk at IEEE ComSoc Tainan Chapter (hosted at National Sun Yat-sen University). I am sitting on fi rst row, second from left.

I have visited the lab of Prof. Yi-Bing Jason Lin at National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University with Prof. Arun Kumar Sangaiah from National Yunlin University of Science and Technology. From left to right: Arun, Jason, Shiwen.

I prepared four different talks, and let my host choose one of interest, including:

  • Talk 1: RFID-based 3D human pose tracking: Design, generalization, and data augmentation

  • Talk 2: AIGC for Wireless Sensing

  • Talk 3: How to reduce the reliance on data in deep learning-based wireless research

  • Talk 4: Introduction to the Wireless Research and Education Program at Auburn University

The talks are mostly based on our recent work on machine learning-based wireless sensing: one side is on how to use various radio frequency (RF) signals to sense human activities, and the other side is on how to make good use of machine learning models to handle RF signal data and how to make machine learning models less dependent on wireless data, thus reducing the effort on RF data collection. The talks were well received, with good attendance each around 20–50+.

The audience included students, faculty members, and researchers in and outside the specific area. I got very good feedback from the audience during the talk, which also helped me to better understand the problems at hand and to improve my ways of presenting the technical content to a broader audience with various backgrounds.

In addition to research talks and meetings, my hosts also arranged a rich set of extra-talk activities for me.

On the first weekend in Taiwan, I visited the beautiful Sun Moon Lake on Saturday and a local farm on Sunday, feeding cows and fish and having a nice coffee and ice cream along with several graduate students of YunTech. It was also amazing to see the best sunset in Taiwan while staying at the Seasbay Hotel of National Sun Yat-sen University. From a short tour of the Takao Railway Museum in Kaohsiung City, I learned a lot of interesting things about the railway system and the history of Taiwan. In addition to showing me the smart healthcare project at National Cheng Kung University, Prof. Yi-Bing Lin kindly gave me a tour of the Hsinchu Science and Industrial Park and his lab, and I was deeply impressed by the many IoT projects of his team.

In Taipei, I visited the Taipei National Palace Museum, Hu Shih Memorial Hall, and the Museum of the Institute of Ethnology at Academia SINICA, as well as the beautiful campuses of the National Taiwan University and National Taiwan University of Science and Technology. During my stay in Taipei, I experienced the largest earthquake in 20 years in Taiwan. There was an aftershock even during my talk at Academia SINICA. I was impressed to see how calm people were.

After the talk at Qualcomm, my host took me to Lo Jolla Cove and treated me to the beautiful ocean view and a nice lunch. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all my hosts for their kindness and hospitality.

The IEEE Communications Society Distinguished Lecturer Program is highly regarded within the field of communications engineering and technology. It plays a crucial role in advancing knowledge and fostering innovation in the field of communications through high-quality lectures delivered by experts in the field. In addition to serving our members by disseminating new technologies, the program is also highly rewarding to the DLs, such as increasing the visibility and impact of their work and fostering new ideas and collaborations.

I am serving as the ComSoc Technical Committee (TC) Board Director and have been working with the ComSoc TCs. Both TCs and local chapters are the pillars of the ComSoc community, while TCs are more technologically oriented and the chapters are more location-based. The DL program provides an important means for collaboration between TCs and local chapters.

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