Letaief was born in Nabeul, Tunisia in 1962.[5] In 1981, he was among 200 high school graduates given scholarships by the Tunisian government for undergraduate studies in the USA.[6] He received the BS degree in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University at West Lafayette, Indiana in December 1984.[7] He then received the MS and PhD Degrees in Electrical Engineering from the same university, in August 1986, and May 1990, respectively.[7] He has also received a PhD Honoris Causa from the University of Johannesburg, South Africa, in 2022.[8]
Career
Letaief started his academic career at the University of Melbourne in 1990, and was a lecturer/assistant professor there for three years.[citation needed] He joined the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) as an assistant professor in 1993, became an associate professor in 1996, a full professor in 2001, a chair professor in 2005, and since 2019, the New Bright Professor of Engineering.[9]
While at HKUST, he has been Senior Advisor to the President,[10] Acting Provost,[11] Head of the Electronic and Computer Engineering department, Director of the Wireless IC Design Center, and Director of the Hong Kong Telecom Institute of Information Technology.[12] He has also served as the Dean of Engineering.[12]
Letaief served as Member of the IEEE Board of Directors,[15] and has been IEEE Communications Society Vice-President for Conferences, Chair of IEEE Committee on Wireless Communications, elected member of IEEE Product Services and Publications Board, and IEEE Communications Society Vice-President for Technical Activities.[16] He also served as President of the IEEE Communications Society (2018-19).[15]
2011 IEEE Communications Society Harold Sobol Award[30]
2016 IEEE Signal Processing Society Young Author Best Paper Award[31]
2016 IEEE Marconi Prize Paper Award in Wireless Communications[27]
2017 IEEE Technical Committee on Cognitive Networks Publication Award[32]
2018 IEEE Signal Processing Society Young Author Best Paper Award[33]
2019 Distinguished Research Excellence Award by HKUST School of Engineering (Highest research award and only one recipient/3 years is honored for his/her contributions)[34]
2019 IEEE Communications Society and Information Theory Society Joint Paper Award[35]
2021 IEEE Technical Committee on Cognitive Networks Recognition Award[36]
2021 IEEE Communications Society Best Survey Paper Award[37]
Letaief has co-authored several books and book chapters, including Stochastic Geometry Analysis of Multi-Antenna Wireless Networks.[41] He has authored and co-authored over 700 journal and conference papers with over 57,650 citations and an h-index of 106 according to Google Scholar (as of January 2025). He also holds 15 inventions, including 11 US patents.[42] In addition, he has launched and led several multi-university research projects, including the project manager and the principal investigator of the Area of Excellence Scheme of the Hong Kong Research Grant Council (a flagship project with a funding of HKD 87,304,000).[43][44]
