Richard D. Wesel is an Associate Dean for Academic and Student Affairs at a College of Engineering, where he has held leadership roles such as Vice-Chair of the Electrical Engineering Department. With Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University and MIT respectively, his research focuses on communication theory and channel coding, particularly low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes and turbo codes for efficient data transmission over noisy channels. Education: MIT (B.S., M.S.), Stanford (Ph.D.) Leadership: Associate Dean, Former Vice-Chair of Electrical Engineering Wesel's research explores advanced techniques for broadcast and multiple-access communication systems, emphasizing applications in wireless LANs, satellite communications, and optical networks. His work integrates machine learning with traditional decoding algorithms, as seen in recent publications on neural-network-optimized LDPC decoding and parallel trellis-stage-combining methods for high-throughput systems. His articles demonstrate a focus on finite-blocklength coding, including CRC-aided list decoding for convolutional and polar codes, and voltage optimization strategies for flash memory reliability. Wesel has authored over 100 publications and led a research group that won the 2006 Design Automation Conference's top award for optical multiple access design. Scientific Awards: National Science Foundation CAREER Award Okawa Foundation Award As an educator, Wesel received the TRW Excellence in Teaching Award in 2000 and has contributed to academic governance through roles on the Faculty Executive Committee and Undergraduate Council. His work bridges theoretical communication systems with practical implementations, including FPGA-based decoders and adaptive coding for fading channels.







