Kang G. Shin recognized with Distinguished Leadership Award by IEEE Computer Society Technical & Conference Activities Board

Kevin and Nancy O’Connor Professor of Computer Science Kang G. Shin has been awarded the 2022 IEEE Computer Society Technical & Conference Activities Board Distinguished Leadership Award “for his leadership in propelling real-time systems research to become a vigorous scientific discipline and for laying a firm foundation for the engineering of real-time applications that have become an important part of modern societies.”

This award is presented annually to an individual for providing outstanding leadership and structure that enables the success of the Technical & Conference Activities’ mission.

At Michigan, Shin leads a number of research projects in the areas of wireless networking, computer and network and security and privacy, mobile sensing and applications, resilient cloud computing services, and embedded or cyber-physical systems. His Real-Time Computing Lab has been using and developing machine learning, digital signal processing, and control algorithms to address these issues. Shin’s work has impacts on a broad range of real-life systems such as autonomous cars, smart phones and homes, smart connected communities, and human health and wellness.

In one example, Shin’s lab developed an offensive vehicle security toolbox designed to save security researchers time and effort spent reverse-engineering the message format of every vehicle they study.

In another, his lab developed BlueFi  and FLEW by leveraging deep insights into Bluetooth and WiFi modulations. Various algorithms related to FSK/OFDM modulations, digital signal processing and error correction codes are devised and optimized for different WiFi processing stages to reduce Bluetooth signal impairments and to allow real-time operations. BlueFi and FLEW enable common and practical applications such as sending Bluetooth localization beacons and streaming Bluetooth audio (to Bluetooth devices) using only WiFi hardware. BlueFi and FLEW open new opportunities for cross-technology communications between billions of WiFi and Bluetooth devices, which was deemed impossible in the past.

Another recent project was the development of a security analysis tool that helps to develop security gaps that exist when IC designers outsource their high-performance IC fabrication to unknown or untrusted foundries.

Shin joined the faculty at Michigan in 1982 and shortly afterward established the Real-Time Computing Lab. Amongst his recognitions, Shin is a recipient of the Ho-Am Prize in Engineering (the highest honor in engineering and technology for Korean origin engineers and scholars),  the Stephen S. Atwood Award from the College of Engineering, an IEEE RTC Technical Achievement Award, and numerous paper awards. He is a Fellow of IEEE and ACM.