Ali Abedi was born in 1975 in Tehran, Iran. He is a graduate of National Organization for Development of Exceptional Talents (NODET). Dr. Abedi has received his B.Sc and M.Sc degrees in Electrical Engineering from Sharif University of Technology and his Ph.D in Electrical and Computer Engineering, from University of Waterloo in 1996, 1998, and 2004, respectively. From 1998 to 2000 he was with the department of Electrical Engineering at the Aeronautical Engineering University as lecturer and director of research center. He worked as adjunct assistant professor at the University of Waterloo and Queen's University during 2004 and 2005.

Dr. Abedi joined the University of Maine, Orono in 2005, where he is currently Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Director of WiSe-Net Lab. His recent research works include analytical performance evaluation of block codes, new methods for performance and convergence analysis of Turbo-codes, and applications of error correction codes in wireless sensor networks for structural monitoring and space applications.

Dr. Abedi has received a number of awards and recognitions from Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), and Canadian Space Agency, NASA, and IEEE. He is a senior member of IEEE and currently serves as IEEE Region-1 Technical Chapters Coordinator. He has served as IEEE Maine section chair (2008), IEEE Communications and Computer Societies chapter chair (2005-8), IEEE Maine section vice-chair (2007), IEEE Maine section secretary (2006), IEEE Region-1 Micro mouse competition and student paper conference general chair (2006), reviewer for NSF proposals, IEEE Transactions on Communications, IEEE Sensors Journal, Journal of the Franklin Institute, and several related conferences and journals.

On a perosnal side, Ali practices martial arts and has black belt (advanced level) in TAE-KWAN-DO. He also plays piano and guitar and used to sing for Sharif University Music Group. Ali has been married for 10 years and has two kids.

• 2008, Early Career Research Award, College of Engineering, UMaine
• 2007, Communications Society Chapter Achievement Award
• 2006, IEEE Regional Activities Board, Friend of IEEE Award
• 2006, Canadian Space Agency, Space Technologies Award
• 2005, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Postdoctoral Fellowship
• 2005, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Fellowship for Foreign Researchers
• 2004, NSERC Visiting Fellowship in Government Laboratories
• 2004, University of Waterloo Distinguished Teaching Award (DTA)
• 2003, University of Waterloo Graduate Incentive award
• 2002, NSERC Post Graduate Scholarship
• 2002, Ontario Graduate Scholarship
• 2002, Faculty of Engineering Dean's award
• 2001, Faculty of Engineering Graduate Student award
• 2001, University of Waterloo International Student award
• 2000, University of Waterloo Graduate Student award
• 1992, Member of the National Computer Olympiad team
• 1991, Member of the National Physics Olympiad team