Career Highlights
Seasoned Academic
Pioneer researcher and Academic leader in pervasive computing, mobile computing and the Internet of Things, with special focus on digital health including: smart homes and smart spaces as assistive environments; Internet of Things for active and healthy living; and assistive technology in support of managing long term health conditions, ageing, disabilities, and independence.
Current Position
Currently Professor and Chair in Digital Health at Lancaster University, UK (on leave from the University of Florida, US, from 2017-2020), overseeing interdisciplinary research, education and curricular development, technology development, and external engagement across campus. Leading a group of 40 researchers and staff members to define the digital health strategy for Lancaster University Health Innovation Campus – a £162m initiative to transform healthcare education, practice and delivery at population scale.
Founder of GTSH Smart House
For 20 years, Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Florida and cofounder and Director of the Gator Tech Smart House, an experimental facility for applied research development and validation in the domains of elder care and health telematics. Also, at the University of Florida, Technology Director of the NIDRR-funded Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Successful Aging (RERC-Aging), 2001-2007, overseeing over 30 researchers, staff, and graduate students.
Highly Funded Research Program
Highly successful grant applicant, securing (as PI or Co-PI) 45 grants worth over US$12 million (not counting equipment grants), including several multi-million-dollar grants from the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR), UK National Health Services (NHS), DARPA, the US Special Operation Command, IBM, Motorola, Harris Corp., Microsoft Research, Citrix Systems, Sun Microsystems, Nokia Research Labs, Tekes (Finland), and Korea’s Electronics and Telecommunication Research Institute (ETRI). Funded, supervised, and graduated 23 PhD students and 58 Masters students (all with research theses). Currently supervising 2 PhD students.
Inventor and Innovator
Fifteen patent applications and nine issued patents on emerging technologies in mobile computing, 4G communication, smart health, and the emerging Internet of Things.
Successful Editor-in-Chief
Editor-in-Chief of Computer, the IEEE Computer Society’s flagship publication, January 2015–2018. Computer won the 2018 Folio: Eddie Award, one of the most prestigious awards in the publication industry. Founding editorial board member of IEEE Pervasive Computing magazine.
Conference Organization Leadership
Organized 27 conferences/workshops as Program/General Chair/Cochair; one of the very few who have chaired ACM HotMobile (1996), ACM Ubicomp (2009) and ACM MobiCom (2013), the premier international conferences on mobile applications, ubiquitous computing and mobile computing, respectively.
Globally Sought Keynote Speaker
More than two dozen keynotes in prestigious conferences around the world. Gave invited talks at top research centers (Microsoft Research Redmond, Microsoft Research Beijing, Nokia Research Labs, Motorola Research, IBM TJ Watson Research Labs, GE Global Research Labs, Bell Labs, ETRI, Korea, and Europe’s EIT Digital) and in universities’ distinguished lecture series (e.g., Peking Univ., Univ. of Minnesota, Queens Univ., Canada, and Singapore Management Univ.)
Highly Published Academician
Published over 300 books, book chapters, journal/transactions articles, and conference and workshop articles. Over 12,300 citations, h-index of 49, and i10-index of 156, according to Google Scholar
Fellow Recognition
Elevated to the rank of Fellow of the Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET), UK, in March 2019. Elevated to the IEEE Fellow rank in January 2015. Elected to the IEEE Computer Society Board of Governors (BoG), 2017-2019. Elected to the IEEE Computer Society’s Golden Core in 2018
Visionary Technologist and Entrepreneur
Founded/cofounded five startups: Phoneomena Inc., one of the earliest mobile application and middleware companies, Pervasa Inc., focused on IoT platforms and middleware products, Spaceify Oy, Finland, middleware and tools for programming smart spaces, Rokiot USA, focused on IP licensing of IoT IP, and MobiltyWorkx LLC, focused on licensing of LTE related patents.
Substantial Media Coverage
This includes the New York Times and the March 2010 cover feature of Florida Trends Magazine, Florida’s premier business and technology magazine. More details can be found here.