- 2030 North Engineering Research Center
- Phone (205) 348-2811
Dr. Zhengnan Li
Assistant Professor
Contact
- 2030 North Engineering Research Center
- phone (205) 348-2811
Education
- Ph.D., Electrical Engineering, Northeastern University (2025)
- M.Sc., Electrical & Computer Engineering, Northeastern University (2018)
- B.Eng., Communication Engineering, Shandong University of Technology (2016)
Zhengnan Li is an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. His research centers on underwater acoustic communications and signal processing, with broad applications to robust wireless networking in challenging environments such as the ocean. He investigates topics including underwater channel modeling, modulation and coding, adaptive synchronization, and network protocol design, with the goal of enabling reliable wireless data exchange for autonomous systems and environmental monitoring applications.
In addition to his academic work, Dr. Li has held internship positions at Apple and MathWorks, where he contributed to wireless protocol design and software-defined radio development. His scholarship includes an invited cover article in Nature Reviews Electrical Engineering and publications in venues such as Computer Networks and the IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering. His work has been recognized with the Mario Gerla Best Paper Award at WUWNet 2022.
Dr. Li’s current projects span underwater acoustic channel measurement campaigns, signal processing for multi-user and interference-limited systems, and networking strategies for cooperative sensing and communication among autonomous underwater vehicles. His broader interests include the intersection of wireless communications, acoustics, statistical signal processing, and data-driven modeling.
Affiliated Areas
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Selected Publications
- Li, Z., Chitre, M., Stojanovic, M., “Underwater acoustic communications” (invited cover article), Nature Reviews Electrical Engineering, 2025.
- Li, Z., Cuji, D. A., Stojanovic, M., “Space-Code Division Multiple Access for Broadband Acoustic Networks,” Computer Networks, 2024.
- Li, Z., Stojanovic, M., “Multicarrier Acoustic Communications in Multiuser and Interference-Limited Regimes,” IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering, 2023.
- Wang, X., Li, Z., Borges, D. R., and Hakim, J., “Low-Latency Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access Transmission Scheme,” U.S. Patent 12,335,171, issued June 2025. Assignee: Apple Inc.
Awards and Honors
- Mario Gerla Best Paper Award at WUWNet’22