Welcome. I am a member of the Computer Engineering Group in the
Department of Electrical and Computer
Engineering at the University of
Toronto. I am also cross-appointed to the Department of Computer Science. I received my M.S.
and Ph.D. degree in Computer Science
from the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign, and my B.E. degree in Computer Science from Tsinghua University, Beijing,
China.
My research interests are in application-layer algorithms in a wide
variety of distributed systems, including peer-to-peer and overlay
networks, multi-hop wireless networks, and sensor networks. In particular,
my research focuses on improving quality and performance in large-scale
distributed systems. I believe that high-quality research bridges theory
and practice, and proposes practical solutions based on theoretical studies
in general or ideal cases. I also enjoy writing actual code, building real
systems from scratch, and making them work efficiently.
In particular, my recent and current research efforts focus on two fronts
of research topics. First, I am interested in open problems in
application-layer overlay networks, towards maximized performance in light
of network dynamics. Particularly, I am interested in the use of
network coding as a practical means of achieving optimal throughput
in multicast sessions. Second, I am interested in open problems in
multi-hop wireless networks, including mobile ad hoc and sensor networks,
particularly theoretical studies and application-layer solutions.
My dissertation research at the University of Illinois has focused on
middleware-level algorithms and architectures to support Quality of Service
(QoS) adaptations at the application level. Highlights of the work include
the design and development of the Agilos
middleware architecture, which assists complex applications to make
informed decisions regarding the timing and scale of QoS adaptations, and
involves approximately sixty thousand lines of code, developed across a
distributed platform. This work has led to the IEEE
Communications Society Leonard G. Abraham Prize Paper Award in the
Field of Communications Systems in 2000.
iQua research group. I lead the iQua research group at the
University of Toronto. A redesigned group web site has been launched
in November 2006, with the objective of keeping it elegant, dynamic,
informative, and interesting. Of course, much of the content in my
personal web pages here will also be in the group web site, but I have
always enjoyed the simplicity found in a stack of static web pages.
Email: bli@eecg.toronto.edu
Phone: (416) 946-7338
Fax: (416) 978-4425
Office: Room 4118, Bahen Centre for Information Technology
iQua research group: Room 4176, Bahen Centre for Information Technology
Surface mail:
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
University of Toronto
10 King's College Road
Toronto, Ontario M5S 3G4
Canada
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