Electrical Engineering Assistant

B ERK B IRAND

Department of Electrical Engineering, Columbia University

**** *.*. ****, *** West 120th Street New York, NY 10027

****@**.********.***; www.berkbirand.com; 774-***-****

EDUCATION

Columbia University, Fu Foundation School of Engineering & Applied Sciences, New York, NY

Ph.D Candidate in Electrical Engineering, started August 2008

Adviser: Prof. Gil Zussman

Research focus: Cross-layer optimizations, performance optimization in mobile and ad-hoc networks

Courses: Stochastic Modeling, Optimization Theory, Graph Theory, Approximation Algorithms,

Control Theory, Queueing Networks

Columbia University, Fu Foundation School of Engineering & Applied Sciences, New York, NY

MS in Electrical Engineering, February 2010

Concentration in Networking and Operations Research

Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA

Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, May 2008, Major GPA: 3.92/4.00

Concentration in Digital Design and Applied Cryptography

PUBLICATIONS

B. Birand, M. Chudnovsky, B. Ries, P. Seymour, G. Zussman, and Y. Zwols, Analyzing the Performance of

Greedy Maximal Scheduling via Local Pooling and Graph Theory, IEEE/ACM Transactions on Neworking,

vol. 20, no. 1, pp. 163 176, Feb. 2012

B. Birand, M. Zafer, G. Zussman, and K-W. Lee, Dynamic Graph Properties of Mobile Networks under

Levy Walk Mobility, in Proc. IEEE MASS 11, Oct. 2011

B. Birand, M. Chudnovsky, B. Ries, P. Seymour, G. Zussman, and Y. Zwols, Analyzing the Performance of

Greedy Maximal Scheduling via Local Pooling and Graph Theory, in Proc. ACM MobiHoc S 3 Workshop 10,

Sept. 2010 [Invited Speaker, Best Theory Session Talk Award]

S-H. Yoo, D. Karakoyunlu, B. Birand, and B. Sunar, Improving the Robustness of Ring Oscillator TRNGs,

ACM Transactions on Recon gurable Technology and Systems, Vol. 3, No. 2, May 2010

B. Birand, M. Chudnovsky, B. Ries, P. Seymour, G. Zussman and Y. Zwols, Analyzing the Performance

of Greedy Maximal Scheduling via Local Pooling and Graph Theory, in Proc. IEEE INFOCOM 10, Mar.

2010 [17.5% acceptance rate, among 8 papers that got nominated for Best Paper Award, out of 1575

submissions]

G. Hammouri, E. zt rk, B. Birand, B. Sunar, Unclonable Lightweight Authentication Scheme, in Proc.

10th International Conference on Information and Communications Security (ICICS 08), in Springer LNCS, vol.

5308, pp.33-48, 2008

POSTER PRESENTATIONS

B. Birand, C. P. Lai, G. Zussman and K. Bergman, Cross-Layer Design of Access/Aggregation Protocols

for Wireless Backhaul, Poster presentation at the CIAN NSF-ERC site visit, San Diego, CA, Mar. 2010

B. Birand, C. P. Lai, H. Wang, G. Zussman and K. Bergman, Cross-Layer Design of Access/Aggregation

Protocols for Wired and Wireless Backhaul, Poster presentation at the CIAN NSF-ERC site visit, Los

Angeles, CA, Nov. 2009

B. Birand, C. P. Lai, H. Wang, G. Zussman and K. Bergman, Fiber-Wireless Convergence - Cross-Layer

Design Approach, Poster presentation at the CIAN NSF-ERC yearly retreat, Tucson, AZ, May 2009

AWARDS/ACTIVITIES

IBM PhD Fellow, 2011-2012

Best Theory Session Talk Award, ACM MobiHoc 2010 S 3 Workshop, Chicago, IL, Sept. 2010

Millman Award for Outstanding Teaching Assistant, Columbia University EE Dept., 2010

Harold S. Black Award for Outstanding EE Senior, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, May 2008

Charles O. Thompson Scholar for Outstanding Achievement in Freshman Year, Worcester Polytechnic

Institute, May 2005

Presidential Scholarship and International Scholarship, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, 2004-2008

Dean s List, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Spring 2008

President, Eta Kappa Nu Electrical Engineering Honor Society, 2007-2008

Member, Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society, Upsilon Pi Epsilon Computer Science Honor Society

RESEARCH PROJECT AND WORK EXPERIENCE

Summer Research Intern, IBM Research T.J. Watson Research Center, May 2010-September 2010

Member of the Wireless Networking Group under the supervision of Dr. Murtaza Zafer and

Dr. Kang-Won Lee. Part of the International Technology Alliance for Network and Information

Science (ITA) project

Investigated the use of evolving graphs, a novel graph model, for characterizing structural properties

of mobile networks

Examined metrics for predicting network performance measures based evolving graph structure

Research Assistant, Columbia University WiM.Net Lab, August 2008-Present

Proved throughput-optimality of greedy and distributed algorithms using graph theoretic properties

known as local pooling

Improved previously known lower-bound on throughput for small input-queued switches

Current work: Investigating cross-layer protocols for resolving bottlenecks at the interface between

wireless and optical networks, and for reducing the energy consumption of optical networking

devices

Current work: Enhancing current theoretical models for the analysis of wireless scheduling and

routing algorithms for mobile networks using evolving graph sequences

Major Qualifying Project, WPI Cryptography Lab, August 2007-March 2008

Implemented cutting-edge cryptographic circuit with VHDL on FPGA board

Tested performance against resilience to side-channel attacks, such as temperature and voltage

Major Qualifying Project, WPI, August 2007-March 2008

Independently developed location-based service application that uses Wi-Fi localization

Employed the latest technologies, such as the Java Web Services API, Apache Axis2

Research Assistant, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA, May-July 2007

Investigated hardware implementation of True Random Number Generator

Enabled a team of three to collect 3 times more data on test bed that I have written

Simulated cryptographic circuit at the transistor-level

Authored academic journal paper as result of research

Interactive Qualifying Project, Pilgrim Bene ce, London, UK, May-July 2006

Counseled the foundation on church restoration and maintenance

Surveyed heritage skills, interviewed villagers and professionals

Produced report submitted to the United Kingdom Parliament

Research Assistant, WPI CS Database Group, Worcester, MA, August 2006-2008

Software Engineering Intern, Garanti Teknoloji, Istanbul, Turkey

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

Instructor, Columbia University, Department of Electrical Engineering, New York, NY

CSEE W4140 - Networking Lab, Spring 2011.

Teaching Assistant, Columbia University, Department of Electrical Engineering, New York, NY

Millman Award for Outstanding Teaching Assistant, Columbia University EE Dept., 2010

CSEE W4119 - Computer Networks, Spring 2010. Responsible for analytic aspects of the class.

CSEE W4119 - Computer Networks, Spring 2009. Responsible for analytic aspects of the class.

ELEN E3801 - Systems and Signals, Fall 2008. Performed review lectures as well as conducting

laboratory sessions.

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES

Co-chair of ACM S 3 2011 Workshop co-located with MobiCom 2011

Reviewer for IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications special issue on Simple Wireless Sensor

Networking Solutions, IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking, IEEE Transactions on Wireless

Communications, IEEE INFOCOM 09, ACM MobiHoc 09, IFIP Networking 10, IEEE INFOCOM 10

NSF CIAN-ERC Columbia University Student Leadership Council Vice-President, April 2009-Present

Student Member, IEEE

TECHNICAL SKILLS AND LANGUAGES

Programming Skills: CLisp, Java, C, C++, Visual Basic, 8086 Assembly, Perl, SQL, VHDL

Experience with XML Web Services, Java-based Web applications, XML Technologies

Operating Systems: Linux, Apple Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows

Applications: MatLab, PSpice, Xilinx, L TEX, Eclipse, Vim, Emacs

A

System Administration: Apache Web Server, QMail SMTP Server, Oracle DB Server, Tomcat

Foreign Languages: Fluent in English, French and Turkish, intermediate-level in German

Contact this candidate