Yao Xie, an assistant professor in Georgia Tech’s Stewart School of Industrial & Systems Engineering (ISyE), has been awarded a CAREER grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The CAREER award is NSF’s most prestigious award in support of the early career-development activities of teacher-scholars who most effectively integrate research and education within the context of the mission of their organization.

The $500,000 award runs through June 30, 2022. Xie’s project is titled “Quick Detection for Streaming Data over Dynamic Networks.” She plans to develop optimal or nearly optimal algorithms of detecting change-points for large networks.

Streaming data over networks has become ubiquitous in today’s world. A fundamental question is how to detect change-points (over time and space) from network streaming data as quickly as possible. This arises from a wide range of applications including geophysical exploration, social network surveillance, power network monitoring, multi-sensor systems for smart cities, as well as cyber security.

Currently, not much is known about how to model these data, how to design an algorithm through a rigorous theoretical framework, how to implement algorithms efficiently online, and how fast we can detect the change with false alarms under control. The proposed research will address these fundamental theoretical and algorithmic questions. The efforts will lead not only to novel technological advances but also help with a much wider interdisciplinary audience in related fields.

“We couldn’t be more excited for Yao upon her receipt of the NSF CAREER Award,” said Edwin Romeijn, the H. Milton and Carolyn J. Stewart School Chair at ISyE. “At this early stage in her career, she has already proven to be a talented teacher-scholar, and this grant will support the important and novel research she is conducting with streaming data over dynamic networks.”

About Assistant Professor Yao Xie

Xie’s research interests are in sequential statistical methods, statistical signal processing, big data analysis, compressed sensing, and optimization. She has been involved in applications for wireless communications, sensor networks, and medical and astronomical imaging.

Prior to ISyE, Xie served as a research scientist in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at Duke University. She received her Ph.D. in electrical engineering with a minor in mathematics from Stanford University in 2011.