Northeastern PhD Student Earns Prestigious IEEE MTT-S Graduate Fellowship
Haoling Li, a PhD candidate in electrical engineering at Northeastern University, has been selected for the Graduate Fellowship from the Microwave Theory and Technology Society (MTT-S) of IEEE, a rare distinction for the university—just the second Northeastern student ever to receive the honor, and the first since 2012. The title of his research proposal is “Direct Digital-to-Physical Transceivers and Synthesis: From Sub-THz Arrays to Qubit Control.”
Li’s research focuses on advancing direct digital-to-physical conversion—a method of embedding fast, constant-impedance modulation directly into millimeter-wave transmitter hardware for communication systems that are both energy-efficient and scalable. His work demonstrates reconfigurable transmitters operating at D-band frequencies, achieving high dynamic range and sub-2 picojoules per bit energy efficiency, while avoiding the impedance mismatch and spectral ripple that limit conventional architectures. These designs enable wideband operation well-suited to dense antenna arrays and multibeam communication links.
Building on this foundation, Li’s research extends these same physical design principles toward quantum computing hardware. Specifically, he is developing cryogenic pulse-synthesis circuits for superconducting qubits, using switching-based direct digital synthesis implemented in cryo-SiGe platforms. These circuits generate precisely shaped control pulses for Josephson Junctions with low noise and minimal heat dissipation — critical constraints in quantum processor environments. The project thus bridges two frontier domains of electrical engineering, applying a unified set of circuit design insights from millimeter-wave communication systems to the emerging challenges of qubit-scale hardware.
“I am deeply honored to receive this fellowship and grateful for the research environment at Northeastern University,” Li said. “This recognition encourages me to continue exploring how microwave theory and techniques can be extended to scalable and energy-efficient quantum control and readout hardware. I am extremely grateful to Professor Najme Ebrahimi and my colleagues at Northeastern for their guidance and support.”
The IEEE MTT-S Graduate Fellowship is an internationally competitive award whose recipients are selected based on a research proposal and academic potential. It consists of a $6,000 fellowship and travel funding to the awards presentation. The Graduate Fellowships were presented at the IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium in Boston, MA, in June.
Li’s prior work has earned recognition at multiple leading venues, including a Top 10 Best Student Paper award at MWCAS 2024 and Top-50 submission honors at both IMS 2024 and IMS 2025. He received a BS in electrical engineering and automation from Nanjing Tech University in 2020 and an MS in electrical and computer engineering from Northeastern University in 2023. He is currently pursuing his PhD under the supervision of Najme Ebrahimi, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, and is expected to complete his degree in 2028.