Cooklev shares expertise in wireless communications with students across the globe

Many who watch the stock market understand the impact of technology on the global economy. Purdue University Fort Wayne’s Todor Cooklev trains the technology leaders of tomorrow.

A professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Cooklev focuses on most aspects of wireless communications, including software and hardware architectures, particularly how to build the chips that allow cellular and Wi-Fi networks to function.

“We see the technology these leading companies are developing and how it is transformative,” Cooklev said, “and the reason why is they have changed the way people live. This is the criteria for a company. If you can change the way people live, then success is guaranteed, and wireless communications has been a very big part of that. We can’t live without Wi-Fi, and now we can’t imagine how people lived without it.”

Everything in today’s society from communications, entertainment, and business transactions runs through wireless applications. Look at what happened during July when an interruption in services paralyzed much of the nation’s air travel for a day. The ramifications lasted weeks.

Entering his 17th year at PFW, Cooklev said he loves working with students to apply advanced mathematics and science to develop technology that later becomes very successful and significant, particularly when used to solve practical problems. In August, Cooklev was named a Fulbright Scholar in electrical and computer engineering.

“One avenue of research is how will future wireless cellular networks be built?” Cooklev said. “There are technologies that allow different ways to build the cell tower—more efficient ways to build cell towers. These days, the impact of wireless/cellular is such that society cannot function without these. Without it, nothing could happen.”

Sherif Elfayoumy, the Steel Dynamics Dean of the College of College of Engineering, Technology, and Computer Science, said he appreciates Cooklev’s receptiveness in sharing his knowledge with those attending PFW.

“He has a tremendous national and international reputation, and along with his stature, his accessibility to work with our students in the classrooms, as well as in the labs, and with the extracurricular activities such as in the clubs, is very important,” Elfayoumy said. “You cannot find availability in many places.”

Cooklev recently published an undergraduate textbook called “Modern Communications Systems: A First Course” that was co-written with the University of Michigan’s Andrew E. Yagle. It is being used in more than 200 universities in the U.S. and more than 100 internationally. Besides Cooklev’s research studies, the book shares his experiences developing technology and standards for communications systems before joining academia. During that part of his professional career, he worked on innovations with Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, DSL, and 4G standards for cellular service.

Cooklev said industry engineers believed Wi-Fi could be successfully used in computers, but never dreamed it could be as successful in overall use as it has become.

The book is designed to prepare undergraduate students for graduate school or careers in the leading semiconductor companies. Cooklev is currently on sabbatical writing another book.

Along with pushing technology forward, Cooklev believes students should have higher aspirations as well.

“I want our students to think more about how they can be leaders nationally and internationally,” Cooklev said, while also suggesting too often the emphasis is on attaining jobs in northeast Indiana, or the state in general—which he supports—but students should not limit their potential.

“Our students and our communication with them should instill these thoughts about how they can become leaders,” Cooklev said. “Northeast Indiana is capable of so much more, and we want northeast Indiana to be a very competitive place. We want to compete with the best, and we can, and I think our students should be thinking this way.”