Marcelo S. Alencar

Marcelo Sampaio de Alencar was born in Serrita, Brazil in 1957. He received his Bachelor Degree in Electrical Engineering, from Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (UFPE), Brazil, 1980, his Master Degree in Electrical Engineering, from Universidade Federal da Paraiba (UFPB), Brazil, 1988 and his Ph.D. from University of Waterloo, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Canada, 1993. Marcelo S. Alencar has more than 29 years of engineering experience, and 20 years as an IEEE Member, currently as Senior Member. For 18 years he worked for the Department of Electrical Engineering, Federal University of Paraiba, where he was Full Professor and supervised 30 graduate and several undergraduate students. Since 2003, he is Chair Professor at the Department of Electrical Engineering, Federal University of Campina Grande, Brazil. Between 1982 and 1984, he worked for the State University of Santa Catarina (UDESC). He spent some time working for MCI-Embratel and University of Toronto, as Visiting Professor. He is founder and President of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Communications (Iecom). He has been awarded several scholarships and grants, including three scholarships and several research grants from the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Research (CNPq), two grants from the IEEE Foundation, a scholarship from the University of Waterloo, a scholarship from the Federal University of Paraiba, an achievement award for contributions to the Brazilian Telecommunications Society (SBrT), an award from the Medicine College of the Federal University of Campina Grande (UFCG) and an achievement award from the College of Engineering of the Federal University of Pernambuco, during its 110th year celebration. His biography is included in the following publications: Who's Who in the World and Who's Who in Science and Engineering, by Marquis Who's Who, New Providence, USA. He published over 200 engineering and scientific papers and eight books: Digital Television Systems, by Cambridge, Communication Systems, by Springer, Princípios de Comunicações (Principles of Communications), by Editora Universitária da UFPB, Probabilidade e Processos Estocásticos (Probability and Stochastic Processess), Telefonia Celular Digital (Digital Cellular Telephony), Telefonia Digital (Digital Telephony), Televisão Digital (Digital Television) and Sistemas de Comunicações (Communication Systems), by Editora Érica Ltda. He also wrote several chapters for different books. Marcelo S. Alencar has contributed in different capacities to the following scientific journals: Editor of the Journal of the Brazilian Telecommunication Society; Member of the International Editorial Board of the Journal of Communications Software and Systems (JCOMSS), published by the Croatian Communication and Information Society (CCIS); Member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Networks (JNW), published by Academy Publisher; Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Communication and Information Systems (JCIS), special joint edition of the IEEE Communications Society (ComSoc) and SBrT. He is member of the SBrT-Brasport Editorial Board. He has been involved as a volunteer with several IEEE and SBrT activities, including being a member of the Advisory or Technical Program Committee in several events. He served as member of the IEEE Communications Society Sister Society Board and as Liaison to Latin America Societies. He also served on the Board of Directors of IEEE's Sister Society SBrT. He is a Registered Professional Engineer. He is a columnist for the traditional Brazilian newspaper Jornal do Commercio, since April, 2000, and is currently Vice-President External Relations of SBrT. He is member of the IEICE, in Japan, SBMO, SBPC and SBEB, in Brazil.