Leadership highlights: Prof. Liang Cheng is Professor and Chair of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (about 700 undergraduate, Master’s and PhD students majoring in CS, CSE, and/or EE on 2 campuses) at the University of Toledo. The department created a new program of Bachelor of Science in Computer Science after his first year of service, and turned a multi-year enrollment decline around to an enrollment increase after his second year of service. Prior to joining UToledo in 2021, while serving as a Faculty Senator and a Faculty Tri-Chair of Council for Equity and Community at Lehigh University, Dr. Cheng provided leadership in updating Rules and Procedures of the Faculty with new categories of faculty (e.g. Research Faculty and Teaching Faculty) added with their rights and responsibilities defined for equity and long-term growth of the university and in updating the Bylaws of the Council for Equity and Community to include the representation of Professor of Practice and achieve more diversity, equity, and inclusion for the Council and the university.
Prof. Cheng also served on the leadership council of Interdisciplinary Research Institute of Cyber-Physical Infrastructure and Energy (I-CPIE) and he was a founding member of the INE cluster (a research cluster in Integrated Networks for Electrical, Information and Financial Flows) at Lehigh University. He co-chaired a college-wide interdisciplinary faculty search on Cyber-Physical Systems and Internet of Things and a university-wide faculty search committee for Lehigh INE cluster. Prof. Cheng served as a Program Co-Chair for the 16th IEEE International Conference on Advanced and Trusted Computing (ATC 2019), 2016 IEEE International Conference on Sustainable Computing and Communications (IEEE SustainCom 2016), and 2014 International Conference on Mobile Systems and Pervasive Computing. As the local chair, he also received a Best Service Award of the 11th IEEE International Conference on Mobile Ad hoc and Sensor Systems (IEEE MASS 2014). He also organized 2005 IEEE Sarnoff Symposium on Advances in Wired & Wireless Communications as its Program Chair.
Prof. Cheng led a ~1-million-dollar DOE project (Keystone Smart Grid Fellowship Program with total project cost $987,552, 2010-2015), which enhanced the sustainability of the Energy Systems Engineering Institute at Lehigh University and the Power and Energy Initiative at University of Pittsburgh. Thirteen graduate students at Lehigh University and eight graduate students at the University of Pittsburgh, with diverse education, career, and culture backgrounds, e.g. a former college professor, three high-school teachers, and several Africa-American, Hispanic-American, and Asian-American students, were supported by this project. Student projects resulted in top journal and conference papers, training materials, and testbeds, and students outreached to middle and high schools via seminar talks and course/curriculum development to promote awareness of smart grid technologies. This project also supported training of ten utility employees and strengthened university/industry collaborations.
Scholarship highlights: Prof. Liang Cheng’s research is geared toward enabling intelligent infrastructure based on real-time sensing, model-driven data analytics, and machine learning through inter-disciplinary projects, such as CPS (Cyber-Physical Systems) and IoT (Internet of Things) projects funded by NSF (National Science Foundation) including a NSF CPS Breakthrough project, DOT (Department of Transportation), and PITA (Pennsylvania Infrastructure Technology Alliance), and smart grid and cyber security projects funded by DOE (Department of Energy) and PITA. Sponsors of his research also include DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) and companies such as ABB, Ingersoll Rand, and PPL. He has authored/co-authored more than 100 papers published in peer-reviewed journals and conferences such as IEEE ToSG, ToMC, ToVT, ToWC, ICDCS, ACM e-Energy, ICCPS, and ICNP. Working with a multidisciplinary team of researchers from 20 universities and institutes in 6 countries, he has co-edited a book on Underground Sensing published by Elsevier Academic Press.
Prof. Cheng has advised 7 Ph.D. students to their graduation and supervised 3 postdocs; among them, Dr. Lisa Frye is now Professor and Chair of the Computer Science Department at Kutztown University, Dr. Jun Peng, a Full Professor at The University of Texas, Rio Grande Valley, Dr. Wei Liang, a Professor and Dean at Hunan University of Science and Technology, and Dr. Huan Yang, an Assistant Professor at South China Normal University. He is an advocate for integrating research with education and bringing policy topics into student training, e.g. through course modules in Introduction to Engineering Practice for first-year students and Senior Design for undergraduate seniors. He served on the advisory board for the Computer Science Department of Kutztown University.
Prof. Cheng was a keynote speaker at 2015 IEEE International Conference on the Edges of Innovation for Smarter Cities. He also won Christian R. & Mary F. Lindback Foundation Minority Junior Faculty Award. He was a Visiting Professor at University of Science and Technology of China and TU Dortmund, Germany. Prof. Cheng was invited to serve on panels and review grant proposals for NSF, DOE, NIH (National Institute of Health), NRI (Nebraska Research Initiative), Swedish Knowledge Foundation, Austrian Science Fund, and Singapore’s Land Transport Authority.
Contact Information
Phone: (419) 530-8196
Email: Liang.Cheng@utoledo.edu