Biography:Fadel Adib

From HandWiki
Fadel Adib
NationalityLebanese–American[1]
Alma materAmerican University of Beirut (BE, 2011); Massachusetts Institute of Technology (SM, 2013; PhD, 2016)
Known forWireless sensing (Wi‑Vi, WiTrack), Ocean IoT, battery‑free underwater imaging
Scientific career
FieldsComputer science; Electrical engineering
InstitutionsMassachusetts Institute of Technology
ThesisWireless systems that extend our senses (2017)
Websitewww.mit.edu/~fadel/

Fadel Adib is a Lebanese–American computer scientist, electrical engineer, and entrepreneur. He is an associate professor at the MIT Media Lab and in MIT's Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, where he founded and directs the Signal Kinetics research group. His work focuses on wireless sensing, networking, human–computer interaction, and the "Ocean Internet of Things," including systems that enable seeing and sensing through walls and battery‑free underwater imaging.[2][3] He is also the founder and CEO of Cartesian Systems, a startup focused on large‑scale wireless mapping and sensing.[4][5]

In 2023 he received the Great Arab Minds Award (engineering & technology) and in 2022 the ACM SIGMOBILE Rockstar Award; he is also a 2021 Sloan Research Fellow and a 2019 ONR Young Investigator and NSF CAREER awardee.[6][7][8][9][10]

Early life and education

Adib grew up in Tripoli, Lebanon, and studied computer and communications engineering at the American University of Beirut (BE, 2011).[11][12] He earned an SM (2013) and PhD (2016) in computer science at MIT. His master's thesis "See through walls with Wi‑Fi" and dissertation "Wireless systems that extend our senses" explored using radio signals for contactless sensing.[13][14]

Career

Adib joined the MIT faculty in 2016 as an assistant professor at the Media Lab, where he founded the Signal Kinetics group; he was promoted to associate professor with tenure in 2022.[15][16] He has served as MIT's Doherty Chair in Ocean Utilization, reflecting his group's focus on ocean sensing and communications.[17]

Research

Adib is known for pioneering wireless sensing systems that use radio frequency signals to perceive humans and environments without wearables. His early work with Dina Katabi introduced **Wi‑Vi**, which used low‑power Wi‑Fi signals to detect and track people through walls, and **WiTrack**, a 3‑D through‑wall motion‑tracking system; these results were broadly covered in the technology press.[18][19][20][21]

Later, Adib's team developed **RF‑Capture** (capturing a coarse human figure through walls) and contributed to RF‑based human‑pose estimation (**RF‑Pose**).[22][23]

In ocean sensing, his group reported the first **battery‑free, wireless underwater camera**, published in Nature Communications and covered by popular science outlets.[24][25] His team has also published extensively on underwater acoustic backscatter communication and long‑range battery‑free networking.[26]

Entrepreneurship

Adib founded **Cartesian Systems**, serving as CEO; the company builds wireless mapping and sensing platforms and has received U.S. NSF SBIR funding.[27][28][29] Earlier, his graduate research contributed to the formation of Emerald Innovations, which develops contactless health‑monitoring systems.[30][31]

Awards and honors

  • Great Arab Minds Award (Engineering & Technology), 2023.[32][33]
  • ACM SIGMOBILE Rockstar Award, 2022.[34]
  • Sloan Research Fellowship, 2021.[35]
  • Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award, 2019.[36]
  • National Science Foundation CAREER Award, 2019.[37]
  • ACM SIGMOBILE Doctoral Dissertation Award, 2018 (for Wireless Systems that Extend Our Senses).[38]
  • MIT Technology Review Innovators Under 35, 2014; Forbes 30 Under 30 (Enterprise Technology), 2015.[39][40]
  • ACM SIGMOBILE Test‑of‑Time Award (for "See Through Walls with Wi‑Fi!"), 2023 (co‑recipient).[41]

Selected publications

  • F. Adib and D. Katabi, "See Through Walls with Wi‑Fi!," ACM SIGCOMM CCR 43(4):75–86 (2013).[42]
  • F. Adib, Z. Kabelac, D. Katabi, and R. C. Miller, "3D Tracking via Body Radio Reflections," USENIX NSDI (2014).[43]
  • F. Adib, C.-Y. Hsu, H. Mao, D. Katabi, and F. Durand, "Capturing the Human Figure Through a Wall," ACM Transactions on Graphics 34(6) (SIGGRAPH Asia 2015).[44]
  • S. S. Afzal, W. Akbar, O. Rodriguez, M. Doumet, U. Ha, R. Ghaffarivardavagh, and F. Adib, "Battery‑free wireless imaging of underwater environments," Nature Communications (2022).[45]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Fadel Adib". https://www.weforum.org/people/fadel-adib/. 
  2. ↑ Zewe, Adam (January 24, 2023). "Sensing with purpose". MIT News. https://news.mit.edu/2023/fadel-adib-sensing-purpose-0124. 
  3. ↑ "Signal Kinetics – Ocean IoT (selected publications)". https://signal-kinetics.media.mit.edu/publications/ocean-iot/. 
  4. ↑ "Cartesian Systems". https://www.cartesiansystems.com/. 
  5. ↑ "Fadel Adib". https://www.weforum.org/people/fadel-adib/. 
  6. ↑ "Lebanese MIT professor named winner of Great Arab Minds award". December 7, 2023. https://greatarabminds.ae/news/lebanese-mit-professor-named-winner-of-great-arab-minds-award/. 
  7. ↑ "Fadel Adib wins ACM SIGMOBILE Rockstar Award". June 23, 2022. https://www.media.mit.edu/posts/fadel-adib-wins-acm-sigmobile-rockstar-award/. 
  8. ↑ "Fadel Adib – Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship". 2021. https://sloan.org/grant-detail/9734. 
  9. ↑ "2019 Young Investigator Award Recipients". 2019. https://www.nre.navy.mil/education-outreach/sponsored-research/yip/2019-young-investigators. 
  10. ↑ "Fadel Adib awarded NSF CAREER". March 28, 2019. https://www.media.mit.edu/posts/fadel-adib-awarded-nsf-career/. 
  11. ↑ "AUB alumnus Fadel Adib receives prestigious 2023 Great Arab Minds Award". American University of Beirut. December 12, 2023. https://www.aub.edu.lb/advancement/AlumniRelations/Pages/AUB_alumnus_Fadel_Adib_receives_prestigious_2023_Great_Arab_Minds_Award-.aspx. 
  12. ↑ Zewe, Adam (January 24, 2023). "Sensing with purpose". MIT News. https://news.mit.edu/2023/fadel-adib-sensing-purpose-0124. 
  13. ↑ Adib, Fadel (2013). See through walls with Wi‑Fi (S.M. thesis). MIT Libraries (Thesis). hdl:1721.1/82183. Retrieved 12 October 2025.
  14. ↑ "Wireless systems that extend our senses (PhD thesis)". 2017. https://oastats.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/108852. 
  15. ↑ "Fadel Adib joins Media Lab faculty". 2016. https://robotics.mit.edu/fadel-adib-joins-media-lab-faculty/. 
  16. ↑ "Fadel Adib promoted to Associate Professor with Tenure". December 23, 2022. https://www.eecs.mit.edu/fadel-adib-promoted-to-associate-professor-with-tenure/. 
  17. ↑ "An underwater navigation system powered by sound". MIT News. November 2, 2020. https://news.mit.edu/2020/underwater-gps-navigation-1102. 
  18. ↑ Adib, Fadel; Katabi, Dina (August 2013). "See Through Walls with WiFi!". ACM SIGCOMM Computer Communication Review 43 (4): 75–86. doi:10.1145/2534169.2486039. https://people.csail.mit.edu/fadel/papers/wivi-paper.pdf. Retrieved 12 October 2025. 
  19. ↑ "MIT researchers can see through walls using 'Wi‑Vi'". Computerworld. June 28, 2013. https://www.computerworld.com/article/1536679/mit-researchers-can-see-through-walls-using-wi-vi.html. 
  20. ↑ "Wi‑Vi system uses Wi‑Fi to see through walls". New Atlas. June 28, 2013. https://newatlas.com/wi-vi-see-through-walls/28120/. 
  21. ↑ Adib, Fadel; Kabelac, Zachary; Katabi, Dina; Miller, Robert C. (2014). "3D Tracking via Body Radio Reflections". USENIX NSDI. https://www.usenix.org/system/files/conference/nsdi14/nsdi14-paper-adib.pdf. Retrieved 12 October 2025. 
  22. ↑ Adib, Fadel; Hsu, Chen-Yu; Mao, Hongzi; Katabi, Dina; Durand, Frédo (2015). "Capturing the Human Figure Through a Wall". ACM Transactions on Graphics 34 (6): 1–13. doi:10.1145/2816795.2818072. https://people.csail.mit.edu/hongzi/content/publications/RFcapture-TOG.pdf. Retrieved 12 October 2025. 
  23. ↑ "MIT uses wireless signals to identify people through walls". Ars Technica. October 28, 2015. https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/10/mit-uses-wireless-signals-to-identify-people-through-walls/. 
  24. ↑ "Battery‑free wireless imaging of underwater environments". Nature Communications. September 2022. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-33223-x.pdf. Retrieved 12 October 2025. 
  25. ↑ "This underwater camera operates wirelessly without batteries". Ars Technica. September 29, 2022. https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/09/this-underwater-camera-operates-wirelessly-without-batteries/. 
  26. ↑ "Ocean IoT – selected publications". https://signal-kinetics.media.mit.edu/publications/ocean-iot/. 
  27. ↑ "Cartesian Systems". https://www.cartesiansystems.com/. 
  28. ↑ "Company: Cartesian Systems — NSF SBIR Phase II". https://www.sbir.gov/sbc/cartesian-systems-inc. 
  29. ↑ "Fadel Adib". https://www.weforum.org/people/fadel-adib/. 
  30. ↑ "Fadel Adib promoted to Associate Professor with Tenure". December 23, 2022. https://www.eecs.mit.edu/fadel-adib-promoted-to-associate-professor-with-tenure/. 
  31. ↑ "Fadel Adib wins inaugural Great Arab Minds award for engineering and technology". Community Jameel. December 8, 2023. https://www.communityjameel.org/news/fadel-adib-wins-inaugural-great-arab-minds-award-for-engineering-and-technology. 
  32. ↑ "Lebanese MIT professor named winner of Great Arab Minds award". December 7, 2023. https://greatarabminds.ae/news/lebanese-mit-professor-named-winner-of-great-arab-minds-award/. 
  33. ↑ "Mohammed bin Rashid announces Fadel Adib as winner of first GAM award". November 25, 2023. https://www.wam.ae/en/article/aq0n3sr-mohammed-bin-rashid-announces-fadel-adib-winner. 
  34. ↑ "SIGMOBILE RockStar Award – 2022 winner: Fadel Adib". https://www.sigmobile.org/rockstar/2022-winner-adib. 
  35. ↑ "Fadel Adib – Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship". 2021. https://sloan.org/grant-detail/9734. 
  36. ↑ "2019 Young Investigator Award Recipients". 2019. https://www.nre.navy.mil/education-outreach/sponsored-research/yip/2019-young-investigators. 
  37. ↑ "Fadel Adib awarded NSF CAREER". March 28, 2019. https://www.media.mit.edu/posts/fadel-adib-awarded-nsf-career/. 
  38. ↑ "2018 SIGMOBILE Award Winners". October 30, 2018. https://www.sigmobile.org/grav/news/article-2. 
  39. ↑ "Fadel Adib – Innovators Under 35". 2014. https://www.innovatorsunder35.com/the-list/fadel-adib/. 
  40. ↑ "Fadel Adib – Forbes 30 Under 30 (Enterprise Technology)". 2015. https://www.forbes.com/profile/fadel-adib/. 
  41. ↑ "Adib and Katabi receive the ACM SIGMOBILE Test‑of‑Time Award". June 2023. https://www.media.mit.edu/posts/adib-and-katabi-receive-the-acm-sigmobile-test-of-time-award/. 
  42. ↑ Adib, Fadel; Katabi, Dina (August 2013). "See Through Walls with WiFi!". ACM SIGCOMM Computer Communication Review 43 (4): 75–86. doi:10.1145/2534169.2486039. https://people.csail.mit.edu/fadel/papers/wivi-paper.pdf. Retrieved 12 October 2025. 
  43. ↑ Adib, Fadel; Kabelac, Zachary; Katabi, Dina; Miller, Robert C. (2014). "3D Tracking via Body Radio Reflections". USENIX NSDI. https://www.usenix.org/system/files/conference/nsdi14/nsdi14-paper-adib.pdf. Retrieved 12 October 2025. 
  44. ↑ Adib, Fadel; Hsu, Chen-Yu; Mao, Hongzi; Katabi, Dina; Durand, Frédo (2015). "Capturing the Human Figure Through a Wall". ACM Transactions on Graphics 34 (6): 1–13. doi:10.1145/2816795.2818072. https://people.csail.mit.edu/hongzi/content/publications/RFcapture-TOG.pdf. Retrieved 12 October 2025. 
  45. ↑ "Battery‑free wireless imaging of underwater environments". Nature Communications. September 2022. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-33223-x.pdf. Retrieved 12 October 2025. 



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