Dr. SHAO Jiawei, a 2024 PhD graduate from the Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering (ECE), has been selected as the winner of the School of Engineering (SENG) PhD Research Excellence Award 2023-24 at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). This award recognizes his exceptional research achievements and contributions to the field during his PhD studies.

Jiawei’s research focuses on device-edge cooperative inference, neural data compression, federated learning, and large language models. His thesis, titled “Task-Oriented Communications for Connected Intelligence at the Wireless Network Edge”, introduces innovative principles for developing communication schemes that facilitate AI-driven applications at the edge. One of his first-author publications, “Selective Knowledge Sharing for Privacy-Preserving Federated Distillation Without a Good Teacher”, has been featured in renowned multidisciplinary journal Nature Communications.

The SENG PhD Research Excellence Award scheme, established in 2011, aims to honor the remarkable accomplishments of PhD students and recent graduates who have made influential contributions to their respective disciplines during their time at HKUST. This year, the number of awards has increased from three to six, including the Winner, First Runner-up, Second Runner-up, and three finalists, to further extend the School’s recognition to outstanding research students.

During the ceremony, the School of Engineering also expressed its deep gratitude to the PhD advisors of all award recipients. Each advisor received a certificate of appreciation, acknowledging their exceptional supervision, guidance, and support to their students throughout their research journey.