Rose Qingyang Hu

Also known as Rose Hu, 胡清阳

Rose Qingyang Hu is an electrical engineer whose research applies artificial intelligence and machine learning to wireless networks. Elementary school teachers encouraged her interest in STEM, and she earned degrees in China and the United States before moving between academic posts and wireless industry roles. Her 2023 papers examined federated learning over wireless links with bit errors and knowledge-graph-based semantic communication, and Utah State named her a 2024 Thorne Career Research Award recipient. She became editor-in-chief of IEEE Communications Magazine in January 2024. Since 2025, she is head of Virginia Tech’s Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and serves as principal investigator for a $20 million National Science Foundation grant announced in 2026 for an AI-enabled cloud semiconductor lab.

Now at: Virginia Tech
Works: 487
Citations: 15,174
h-index: 65
Badges: Bridge
Boomerang
Wayfarer

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 22 October 2026.

Timeline

1992–1998

Early STEM and a Kansas doctorate

Her elementary school teachers encourage her interest in STEM. She earns a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the University of Science and Technology of China in 1992 and a master's degree from Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute, now the New York University Tandon School of Engineering, in 1995. At the University of Kansas, she completes a Ph.D. in 1998; David Petr supervises her dissertation, Development and analysis of ABR congestion control techniques for wide area ATM networks.
2002–2010

Mississippi State and industry

After jobs at Nortel and Yotta Networks, she becomes an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at Mississippi State University in 2002. She returns to industry in 2004, working at Nortel from 2004 to 2009, Research In Motion from 2009 to 2010, and Intel in 2010; her roles include technical manager, senior research scientist, and senior wireless system architect for 3G/4G development and standardization.
2011–2018

Professor at Utah State

She joins Utah State University as an untenured associate professor in 2011, earns tenure in 2014, becomes a full professor in 2017, and is named associate dean for research in 2018. In 2014, she secures two National Science Foundation grants and private Intel funding to develop next-generation wireless systems.
2015–2023

Distinguished lectures and fellowships

She serves as an IEEE Communications Society Distinguished Lecturer from 2015 to 2018 and an IEEE Vehicular Technology Society Distinguished Lecturer from 2020 to 2022. IEEE names her a Fellow in 2020 for contributions to the design and analysis of mobile wireless communications systems. She becomes an Asia-Pacific Artificial Intelligence Association fellow in 2021 and is elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2023.
2023

Federated learning and semantic communication

In 2023, she coauthors Approximate Wireless Communication for Federated Learning with Xiang Ma, Haijian Sun, and Yi Qian; the paper proposes approximate uplink model aggregation over channels with bit errors. She also coauthors Cognitive Semantic Communication Systems Driven by Knowledge Graph: Principle, Implementation, and Performance Evaluation with Fuhui Zhou and colleagues; the work uses a knowledge graph to develop semantic communication systems.
2024

Editor-in-chief of IEEE Communications Magazine

She becomes editor-in-chief of IEEE Communications Magazine in January 2024.
2024

D. Wynne Thorne Career Research Award

Utah State University names her the 2024 D. Wynne Thorne Career Research Award recipient. Her research includes distributed collaborative AI and machine learning within 5G networks.
Since 2025

Head of Virginia Tech ECE

She becomes head of Virginia Tech’s Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in January 2025, the first woman to hold the role in its 135-year history. In 2026, she remains department head and serves as principal investigator for a $20 million National Science Foundation grant to establish an AI-enabled cloud-based semiconductor laboratory.