Venugopal V. Veeravalli

Venugopal V. Veeravalli
Venugopal V. Veeravalli

Administrative Titles

  • Henry Magnuski Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering
Professor
(217) 333-0144
315 Coordinated Science Lab

For More Information

Education

  • Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, October 1992
  • M.S. in Electrical Engineering, (May 1987) Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA
  • B. Tech. (B.S.) in Electrical Engineering, (May 1985) Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay,

Biography

Venu Veeravalli received the Ph.D. degree in 1992 from Illinois, the M.S. degree in 1987 from Carnegie-Mellon University, and the B. Tech. degree in 1985 from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, (Silver Medal Honors), all in electrical engineering. He joined Illinois in 2000, and is currently a professor in the ECE Department. He also holds appointments in Department of Statistics, the Coordinated Science Laboratory and the Information Trust Institute. Prior to joining Illinois, he was on the faculty of the School of ECE at Cornell University. He served as a program director for communications research at the U.S. National Science Foundation in Arlington, VA during 2003-2005.

He is a Fellow of the IEEE, and is currently on Board of Governors of the IEEE Information Theory Society, and previous served on the SPTM Technical Committee of the IEEE Signal Processing Society. He is currently the Area Editor for Machine Learning and Statistics for the IEEE Transactions on Information Theory; he has been an Associate Editor for Detection and Estimation for the IEEE Transactions on Information Theory and for the IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications. He was a Distinguished Lecturer for the IEEE Signal Processing Society during 2010-2011.

His research interests span the theoretical areas of statistical inference, machine learning, and information theory, with applications to data science, wireless communications, and sensor networks

Veeravalli received the 1996 IEEE Browder J. Thompson Award, an award given annually to an outstanding paper by authors under the age of thirty selected from all the publications of the IEEE. In 1998 he received a CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation, and was one of the twenty CAREER awardees from all the disciplines of the NSF to receive the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) from the White House in 1999. He received the Abraham Wald Prize in Sequential Analysis in 2016 and 2023. While at Cornell, he received the Michael Tien Excellence in Teaching Award from the College of Engineering. At Illinois, he has received the Beckman Associate Fellowship at the Center for Advanced Study, 2002, the Xerox Award from the College of Engineering in 2003, and has been listed multiple times on the List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by their Students. He received the Fulbright-Nokia Chair in Information and Communication Technologies in 2023.

Academic Positions

  • Henry Magnuski Professor of ECE (2016-present), University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  • Professor (2016-present), Courtesy Appointment, Department of Statistics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  • Professor (2005-present), Information Trust Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  • Professor (2005-present), Coordinated Science Laboratory, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  • Professor (2005-present), Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Other Professional Employment

  • Program Director, (2003-2005) CISE/CCF/TF, National Science Foundation.

Major Consulting Activities

  • Expert Witness/Consultant (2017,2018) Sidley Austin, Chicago, IL

Teaching Statement

Professor Veeravalli has taught undergraduate courses on communication systems, probability, signal and systems, and data science, and graduate courses on detection and estimation theory, information theory, communication theory, optimization, and wireless communication.

Research Statement

Veeravalli’s research interests span the theoretical areas of statistical inference, machine learning, and information theory, with applications to data science, wireless communications, sensor networks and cyberphysical systems.

Undergraduate Research Opportunities

Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) supported by National Science Foundation (NSF) grants.

Research Interests

  • Data Science
  • Cyberphysical Systems
  • Wireless Communication
  • Sensor Networks
  • Information Theory
  • Detection and Estimation Theory
  • Machine Learning
  • Statistical Inference

Research Areas

  • Adaptive signal processing
  • Computer security, privacy, and information trust
  • Distributed algorithms
  • Information theory
  • Intelligent devices and controls for electricity grids
  • Machine learning
  • Machine learning and pattern recognition
  • Random processes
  • Signal detection and estimation
  • Stochastic systems and control
  • Wireless communication systems

Research Topics

  • Cyberphysical systems and internet of things
  • Cybersecurity and privacy
  • Data science and analytics
  • Decision science
  • Machine learning
  • Sensing systems
  • Smart grid and energy delivery

Books Authored or Co-Authored (Original Editions)

  • V.V. Veeravalli and A. ElGamal. “Interference Management in Wireless Networks.” Cambridge University Press, February 2018.
  • P. Moulin and V.V. Veeravalli. “Statistical Inference for Engineers and Data Scientists.” Cambridge University, February 2019.

Chapters in Books

  • V.V. Veeravalli and T. Banerjee. "Quickest Change Detection." In E-Reference Signal Processing. Elsevier, 2013. Also available at http://arxiv.org/pdf/1210.5552v1.pdf.
  • V.V. Veeravalli. "Fundamentals of Detection Theory." In Mathematical Foundations for Signal Processing, Communications and Networking, T. Chen, D. Rajan, and E. Serpedin (Eds.), Cambridge University Press, 2011.
  • S. Sundhar Ram, V. V. Veeravalli and A. Nedic, "Distributed and Recursive Estimation." In Sensor Networks: When Theory meets Practice, G. Ferrari, (Ed.), Springer 2010.
  • V.V. Veeravalli and J.-F. Chamberland. "Detection in Sensor Networks." In Wireless Sensor Networks. Signal Processing and Communications Perspectives, A. Swami et al (Eds.), Wiley, 2007.

Selected Articles in Journals

  • T.S. Lau, W.P. Tay, and V.V. Veeravalli.“A Semi-Parametric Binning Approach to Quickest Change Detection.” IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing, 67(3):609-621, Feb 2019.
  • Y. Bu, S. Zou, Y. Liang and V.V. Veeravalli. “Estimation of KL Divergence: Optimal Minimax Rate.” IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, 64(4): 2648 - 2674, April 2018.
  • G. Rovatsos, X. Jiang, A.D. Dominguez-Garcia, and V.V. Veeravalli. "Statistical Power System Line Outage Detection Under Transient Dynamics." IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing, 65(11):2787-2797, June 2017.
  • M. Kim, X. Zhang, J.G. Ligo, F. Farnoud, V.V. Veeravalli, O. Milenkovic. “MetaCRAM: An Integrated Pipeline for Metagenomic Taxonomy Identification and Compression.” BMC Bioinformatics, February 2016.
  • Y.C. Chen, T. Banerjee, A.D. Dominguez-Garcia, and V.V. Veeravalli. “Quickest Line Outage Detection and Identification.” IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, pp. 1 - 10, February 2015.
  • Y. Li, S. Nitinawarat and V.V. Veeravalli. "Universal Outlier Hypothesis Testing.” IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, 60(7): 4066-4082, July 2014.
  • A. ElGamal, V.S. Annapureddy, and V.V. Veeravalli. "Interference Channels with CoMP: Degrees of Freedom, Message Assignment, and Fractional Reuse." IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, 60(6): 3483-3498, June 2014.
  • T. Banerjee and V.V. Veeravalli. "Data-Efficient Quickest Change Detection." Sri Lankan Journal of Applied Statistics, Special Issue: Contemporary Statistical Science, pp 183-208, Nov 2014
  • T. Banerjee and V.V. Veeravalli. "Data-Efficient Quickest Change Detection in Minimax Settings." IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, 59(10): 6917 - 6931, October 2013.
  • S. Nitinawarat, G. Atia and V.V. Veeravalli. "Controlled Sensing for Multihypothesis Testing." IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, 58(10): 2451 - 2464, October 2013.
  • V.S. Annapureddy, A. ElGamal and V.V. Veeravalli. "Degrees of Freedom of Interference Channels with CoMP Transmission and Reception." IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, 58(9): 5740-5760, September 2012.
  • T. Banerjee and V.V.~Veeravalli. "Data Efficient Quickest Change Detection with On-Off Observation Control." Sequential Analysis, 31: 1-38, January 2012.
  • V.V. Veeravalli and P.K. Varshney, "Distributed Inference in Wireless Sensor Networks.'' Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A, 370: 100-117, January 2012. ( Invited survey paper.)
  • V.S. Annapureddy and V.V. Veeravalli. "Sum Capacity of MIMO Interference Channels in the Low Interference Regime."IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, 57(5): 2565 - 2581, May 2011.
  • V. S. Annapureddy and V.V. Veeravalli. "Gaussian Interference Networks: Sum Capacity in the Low Interference Regime and New Outer Bounds on the Capacity Region." IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, 55(7): 3032-3050, July 2009.
  • S.S. Ram, A. Nedic and V.V. Veeravalli. "Incremental Stochastic Subgradient Algorithms for Convex Optimization." SIAM Journal on Optimization, 20 (2): 691-717, February 2009
  • A.G. Tartakovsky and V.V. Veeravalli. "Asymptotically Optimal Quickest Change Detection in Distributed Sensor Systems." Sequential Analysis, 27(4): 441-475, October 2008
  • J. Fuemmeler and V.V. Veeravalli. "Smart Sleeping Policies for Energy Efficient Tracking in Sensor Networks." IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing, 56(5): 2091-2102, May 2008.
  • J. Unnikrishnan and V.V. Veeravalli. "Cooperative Sensing for Primary Detection in Cognitive Radio." IEEE Journal on Selected Topics in Signal Processing, Special Issue on Dynamic Spectrum Access, 2(1): 18-27, February 2008.
  • V.V. Veeravalli, Y. Liang and A.M. Sayeed. "Correlated MIMO wireless channels: capacity, optimal signaling, and asymptotics." IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, 51(6)::2058-2072, June 2005.
  • Y. Liang and V.V. Veeravalli. "Capacity of Noncoherent Time-Selective Block Fading Channels." IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, vol. 5, no. 12, pp. 3095-3110, December 2004.
  • A.G. Tartakovsky and V.V. Veeravalli. "General Asymptotic Bayesian Theory of Quickest Change Detection." In SIAM: Theory of Probability and its Applications, vol. 49, no. 3, pp. 538-582, 2004.
  • J.-F. Chamberland and V. V. Veeravalli, "Decentralized Detection in Sensor Networks," IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing, vol. 51, no. 2, pp. 407-416, February 2003. (IEEE Signal Processing Society 2006 Young Author Best Paper Award.)
  • V. V. Veeravalli and A. Mantravadi, "The Coding-Spreading Tradeoff in CDMA Systems," IEEE JSAC: Special Issue on Multiuser Detection Techniques, vol. 20, no. 2, pp. 396-408, February 2002.
  • V. V. Veeravalli, "Decentralized Quickest Change Detection," IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, 47(4): 1657-65, May 2001.
  • V. Dragalin, A. G. Tartakovsky and V. V. Veeravalli, "Multihypothesis Sequential Probability Ratio Tests, Part II: Accurate Asymptotic Expansions for the Expected Sample Size," IEEE Transactions on Information Theory , 46(4): 1366-1383, July 2000.
  • V. Dragalin, A. G. Tartakovsky and V. V. Veeravalli, "Multihypothesis Sequential Probability Ratio Tests, Part I: Asymptotic Optimality," IEEE Transactions on Information Theory. 45(7): 2448-2462, November 1999.
  • C. W. Baum and V. V. Veeravalli, "A Sequential Procedure for Multihypothesis Testing," IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, 40(6): 1994-2007, November 1994. (The authors were awarded the 1996 IEEE Browder J. Thompson Award for this work.)

Other Scholarly Activities

  • Technical Program Committee Co-Chair, IEEE International Symposium on Information Theory, Paris, France, 2018.
  • General Co-Chair, IEEE International Symposium on Information Theory, Honolulu, Hawaii, June 2014.
  • Coorganizer of the National Academy of Engineering, 2001 Frontiers of Engineering Conference.

Honors

  • Abraham Wald Prize in Sequential Analysis, 2023
  • Fulbright-Nokia Distinguished Chair in Information and Communications Technologies, 2023
  • Abraham Wald Prize in Sequential Analysis, 2016
  • Fellow of the IEEE, 2006
  • 1998  National Science Foundation CAREER Award
  • 1998 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) by the White House to recognize outstanding research in wireless communications and for innovations in teaching. This is ``the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on outstanding new scientists and engineers who are in the early stages of establishing their independent research careers.''
  • 1996 IEEE Browder J. Thompson Award, an award given to an outstanding paper by authors under the age of 30 selected from all the publications of the IEEE. The award winning paper: "A Sequential Procedure for Multihypothesis Testing."

Teaching Honors

  • University of Illinois List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by their Students, Spring 2019 (ECE 561)
  • University of Illinois List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by their Students, Spring 2017 for two courses (ECE 561 and ECE 398BD)
  • University of Illinois List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by their Students, Spring 2016
  • University of Illinois List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by their Students, Fall 2015
  • University of Illinois List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by their Students, Spring 2015
  • University of Illinois List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by their Students, Spring 2014
  • University of Illinois List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by their Students, Fall 2013
  • University of Illinois List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by their Students, Spring 2012
  • University of Illinois List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by their Students, Fall 2010 for two courses (ECE 562 and ECE 563).
  • University of Illinois List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by their Students, Spring 2010
  • University of Illinois List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by their Students, Fall 2007
  • University of Illinois List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by their Students, Spring 2007
  • Michael Tien Excellence in Teaching Award, College of Engineering, Cornell University, 1999.

Recent Courses Taught

  • ECE 313 (MATH 362) - Probability with Engrg Applic
  • ECE 365 - Data Science and Engineering
  • ECE 490 (CSE 441) - Introduction to Optimization
  • ECE 500 U (ECE 500 U1, ECE 500 U2, ECE 500 U3) - ECE Colloquium
  • ECE 561 - Detection & Estimation Theory
  • ECE 562 - Advanced Digital Communication