Dr. Walid Saad is a distinguished academic and researcher in the field of electrical and computer engineering. He earned his Ph.D. degree from the University of Oslo in 2010 and currently holds the position of full Professor at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Virginia Tech.

Dr. Saad is the leader of the Network sciEnce, Wireless, and Security (NEWS@VT) laboratory, which is part of the esteemed Wireless@VT research group. He also serves as the Wireless NextG Faculty Lead for Virginia Tech's Innovation Campus, demonstrating his commitment to advancing wireless technologies.

His research interests encompass wireless networks (5G/6G/beyond), machine learning, game theory, security, UAVs, semantic communications, cyber-physical systems, and network science. Dr. Saad's contributions have been recognized through his election as a Fellow of the IEEE.

Throughout his career, Dr. Saad has received several notable awards, including the NSF CAREER award in 2013, the AFOSR summer faculty fellowship in 2014, and the Young Investigator Award from the Office of Naval Research (ONR) in 2015. He has also co-authored eleven conference best paper awards at prominent conferences such as IEEE WiOpt, ICIMP, IEEE WCNC, IEEE PIMRC, IEEE SmartGridComm, EuCNC, IEEE GLOBECOM, IFIP NTMS, and IEEE ICC.

The IEEE Communications Society has honored Dr. Saad with prestigious awards, including the Fred W. Ellersick Prize in 2015 and 2022, the IEEE ComSoc Best Young Professional in Academia award in 2017, the IEEE ComSoc Radio Communications Committee Early Achievement Award in 2018, and the IEEE ComSoc Communication Theory Technical Committee Early Achievement Award in 2019. He has also contributed as a co-author to the 2019 IEEE Communications Society Young Author Best Paper and the 2021 IEEE Communications Society Young Author Best Paper.

Dr. Saad actively contributes to the academic community through his editorial roles. He serves as an Area Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Network Science and Engineering and the IEEE Transactions on Communications. Additionally, he is the Editor-in-Chief for the IEEE Transactions on Machine Learning in Communications and Networking.