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Aaron B. Wagner

Professor

School of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Aaron Wagner
Aaron Wagner
Graduate Field Affiliations
Applied Mathematics
Computer Science
Data Science (minor)
Electrical and Computer Engineering

Biography

Aaron B. Wagner is professor and Stephen H. Weiss Presidential Fellow in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, having served as Associate Director of the School from 2021 to 2023. He received the B.S. degree from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of California, Berkeley, after which he was a postdoctoral research associate in the Coordinated Science Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He has received the NSF CAREER award, the IEEE Information Theory Society James L. Massey Research and Teaching Award for Young Scholars, the IEEE Information Theory Society Paper Award, and teaching awards at the department, college, and university level at Cornell. He is a Fellow of the IEEE and served as president of the IEEE Information Theory Society in 2025.

Research Interests

Wagner studies problems at the intersection of information theory and other fields including machine learning, statistics, networking, statistics, queueing theory, and security. His primary research interest lies in the interplay between data compression and generative modeling, feedback communication, and security.

  • Information Theory and Communications
  • Signal and Image Processing
  • Systems and Networking
  • Information, Networks, and Decision Systems

Select Publications

  • A. B. Wagner, N. V. Shende, and Y. Altuğ, “A new method for employing feedback to improve coding performance,” IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory, Vol. 66, No. 11, pp. 6660-6681, Nov. 2020.

  • J. Acharya, I. Issa, N. Shende, and A. B. Wagner, “Estimating quantum entropy,” IEEE J. Select. Areas Inf. Theory, Vol. 1, No. 2, pp. 454-468, Aug. 2020.

  • I. Issa, A. B. Wagner, and S. Kamath, “An operational approach to information leakage,” IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory, Vol. 66, No. 3, pp. 1625-1657, Mar. 2020.

  • Y. Altuğ and A. B. Wagner, “Moderate deviations in channel coding,” IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory, Vol. 60, No. 8, pp. 4417-4426, Aug. 2014.

  • A. B. Wagner, S. Tavildar, and P. Viswanath, “Rate region of the quadratic Gaussian two-encoder source-coding problem,” IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory, Vol. 54, No. 5, pp. 1938-1961, May 2008.

Aaron B. Wagner's Google Scholar

Select Awards and Honors

  • Merrill Presidential Teacher, Cornell University 2025
  • Outstanding Thesis Research Award (A.Mahmood), Cornell Electrical and Computer Engineering 2025
  • Stephen H. Weiss Presidential Fellow, Cornell University 2024
  • Information Theory Society Student Paper Award (Sharang Sriramu), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 2024
  • Information Theory Society Paper Award, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 2022
  • Ralph S. Watts '72 Teaching Award, College of Engineering, Cornell University 2020
  • Fellow, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 2020
  • James L. Massey Research & Teaching Award for Young Scholars, IEEE Information Theory Society 2017
  • Douglas Whitney '61 Excellence in Teaching Award, College of Engineering, Cornell University 2015
  • IEEE Information Theory Society Student Paper Award (coauthored with one of my students), IEEE Information Theory Society 2010
  • Michael Tien '72 Teaching Award, College of Engineering, Cornell University 2009
  • NSF CAREER Award, National Science Foundation 2007

Education

  • B.S., Electrical Engineering, University of Michigan Ann Arbor 1999
  • M.S., Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, University of California Berkeley 2002
  • Ph.D., Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, University of California Berkeley 2005

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