Tingjun Chen

Tingjun Chen is the Nortel Networks Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Duke University's Pratt School of Engineering, with a secondary appointment in Computer Science. He directs the FuNCtions Lab, focusing on wireless, optical, and quantum networked systems with emphasis on edge computing and energy efficiency.

Originally from Tsinghua University (B.S. 2014), he earned M.S. (2018) and Ph.D. (2020) degrees from Columbia University under Gil Zussman. His research spans wireless networking, optical systems, energy-harvesting technologies, and AI-ML integration in communication infrastructure.

Recent publications demonstrate expertise in mmWave systems, optical transmission management, and RF in-physics computing, with field trials and testbed deployments in dense urban environments. His work has received multiple top conference paper awards and major grants from NSF, ARO, and industry partners.

Key awards include:

• NSF CAREER Award (2025)
• IBM Academic Award (2023, 2021)
• Facebook Fellowship (2019)
• ACM SIGMOBILE Dissertation Award Runner-up (2021)

His lab develops scalable network solutions through projects like:

• NSF CAREER: Mobile Fronthaul Optimization
• NSF CC* Integration-Large: Campus RDMA Networking
• NSF NewSpectrum: Spectrum Monitoring Systems
• Duke Quantum Network Initiative