Ken Duffy Download

Ken Duffy

Professor,  Electrical and Computer Engineering
Professor,  Mathematics

Contact

Office

  • ISEC 409

Lab

  • EXP, 6th Floor

Related Links

Research Focus

Algorithms for communication systems, the life sciences, and DNA forensics. Primary focus currently on new approaches to forward error correction.

About

Ken R. Duffy is a professor at Northeastern University with a joint appointment in the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering and the Department of Mathematics. He works in works collaborative multi-disciplinary teams to design, analyze, and realize algorithms using tools from probability, statistics, and machine learning. Algorithms he has developed have been implemented in digital circuits and in DNA. His current focus is on modern approaches to error correction coding.

He received a B.A (mod) in Mathematics in 1996 and a PhD in Applied Probability in 2000, both awarded by Trinity College Dublin. He was previously a professor at National University of Ireland, Maynooth, where he was the Director of the Hamilton Institute, an interdisciplinary research centre, from 2016 to 2022. He was one of three co-Directors of the Science Foundation Ireland Centre for Research Training in Foundations of Data Science, which has funded more than 120 PhD students.

He is a co-founder of the Royal Statistical Society’s Applied Probability Section (2011), co-authored a cover article of Trends in Cell Biology (2012), is a winner of a best paper award at the IEEE International Conference on Communications (2015), the best paper award from IEEE Transactions on Network Science and Engineering (2019), the best research demo award from COMSNETS (2022), the best demo award from COMSNETS (2023). He is currently an associate editor of IEEE Transactions on Information Theory and an associate editor of IEEE Transactions on Molecular, Biological, and Multi-Scale Communications.

Education

  • PhD, Applied Probability, Trinity College Dublin, 2000
  • B.A. (Mod), Mathematics, Trinity College Dublin, 1996

Honors & Awards

  • Best student paper award, CISS, 2023.
  • Best demo award, COMSNETS, 2023.
  • Best research demo award, COMSNETS, 2022.
  • Best paper award, IEEE Transactions on Network Science and Engineering, 2019.
  • Best Paper Award, IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC), 2015
  • Cover article, Trends in Cell Biology, 2012.

Research Overview

Algorithms for communication systems, the life sciences, and DNA forensics. Primary focus currently on new approaches to forward error correction.

Selected Research Projects

Research Centers and Institutes

Department Research Areas

Selected Publications

Information theory, coding, communications:

  • K. R. Duffy, M. Grundei & M. Médard. Using channel correlation to improve decoding – ORBGRAND-AI. IEEE Globecom, 2023.
  • A. Cohen, R. D’Oliveira, K. Duffy, J. Woo & M. Médard. AES as error correction: cryptosystems for reliable communication. IEEE Communications Letters, 27 (8), 1964–1968, 2023.
  • A. Riaz, A. Yasar, F. Ercan, W. An, J. Ngo, K. Galligan, M. Médard, K. R. Duffy & Rabia T. Yazicigil, A sub-0.8 pJ/bit, 16.3 Gbps/mm^2 universal soft-detection decoder using ORBGRAND in 40 nm CMOS. IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference, 2023.
  • K. R. Duffy, W. An & M. Médard. Ordered reliability bits guessing random additive noise decoding. IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing, 70, 4528–4542, 2022.
  • W. An, M. Médard & K. R. Duffy. Keep the bursts and ditch the interleavers. IEEE Transactions on Communications, 70 (6), 3655–3667, 2022.
  • K. R. Duffy, M. Médard & W. An. Guessing random additive noise decoding with symbol reliability information (SRGRAND). IEEE Transactions on Communications, 70 (1), 3–18, 2022.
  • K. R. Duffy & S. Shneer. MDS coding is better than replication for job completion times. Operations Research Letters, 49 (1), 91–95, 2021.
  • H. Wang, L. Vo, F. P. Calmon, M. Médard, K. R. Duffy & M. Varia, Privacy with estimation guarantees, IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, 65 (12), 8025-8042, 2019.
  • K. R. Duffy, J. Li & M. Médard, Capacity-achieving guessing random additive noise decoding (GRAND), IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, 65 (7), 4023-4040, 2019.

Life sciences:

  • M. B. Horton, H. Cheon, K. R. Duffy, D. Brown, S. H. Naik, C. Alvarado, J. R. Groom, S. Heinzel & P. D. Hodgkin. Lineage tracing reveals B cell antibody class switching is stochastic, cell-autonomous, and tuneable. Immunity, 55 (10), 1843–1855, 2022.
  • K. Bresser, L. Kok, A. C. Swain, L. A. King, L. Jacobs, T. S. Weber, L. Perié, K. R. Duffy, R. J.  de Boer, F. A. Scheeren & T. N. Schumacher, Replicative history marks functional disparity in the CD8+ T cell memory pool. Nature Immunology, 3(5), 791–801, 2022.
  • H. Cheon, A. Kan, G. Prevedello, S. C. Oostinde, S. J. Dovedi, E. D. Hawkins, J. M. Marchingo, S. Heinzel, K. R. Duffy & P. D. Hodgkin. Cyton2: A model of immune cell population dynamics that includes familial instructional inheritance. Frontiers in Bioinformatics, 1, 1–20, 2021.
  • T. Tak, G. Prevedello, G. Simon, N. Paillon, C. Benlabiod, C. Marty, J-L. Villeval, I. Plo, K. R. Duffy & L. Perié. HSPCs display within-family homogeneity in differentiation and proliferation despite population heterogeneity. eLife, 10, e60624, 2021.
  • M. L. R. Haltalli, S. Watcham, N. K. Wilson, K. Eilers, A. Lipien, H. Ang, F. Birch, S. G. Anton, C. Pirillo, N. Ruivo, M. L. Vainieri, C. Pospori, R. E. Sinden, T. C. Luis, J. Langhorne, K. R. Duffy, B. Göttgens, A. M. Blagborough & C. Lo Celso,  Manipulating niche composition limits damage to haematopoietic stem cells during plasmodium infection. Nature Cell Biology, 22, 1399–1410, 2020.

DNA Forensics

  • C. M. Grgicak, Q. Bhembe, N. Sheth, K. R. Duffy & D. Lun. Single cell investigative genetics: Single-cell data produces genotype distributions concentrated at the true genotype across all mixture complexities. Forensic Science International: Genetics, to appear.
  • K. R. Duffy, D. Lun, M. Mulcahy, L. O’Donnell, N. Sheth & C. M. Grgicak. Evidentiary evaluation of single cells renders highly informative forensic comparisons across multifarious admixtures. Forensic Science International: Genetics, 2023.
  • N. Sheth, K. R. Duffy & C. M. Grgicak. High-quality data from a forensically relevant single-cell pipeline enabled by low PBS and Proteinase K concentrations. Journal of Forensic Sciences, 67, 697–706, 2022.
  • C. Grgicak, K. R. Duffy, & D. Lun. A posteriori probabilities on the number of contributors when conditioned on a known contributor. Forensic Science International: Genetics, 54, 102563, 2022.
  • N. Sheth, H. Swaminathan, A. J. Gonzalez, K. R. Duffy & C. M. Grgicak. Towards developing forensically relevant single cell pipelines by incorporating direct-to-PCR extraction: effects on signal quality and allele dropout. International Journal of Legal Medicine, 135 (3), 727–738, 2021.
  • C. M. Grgicak, S. Karkar, X. Yearwood-Garcia, L. E. Alfonse, K. R. Duffy & D. Lun. A large-scale validation of NOCIt’s a posteriori probability of the number of contributors and its integration into forensic interpretation pipelines, Forensic Science International: Genetics, 47, 102296, 2020.

Faculty

Jan 31, 2025

2024 Stanford University Annual Assessment of Author Citations

The following COE professors are among the top scientists worldwide selected by Stanford University representing the top 2% of the most-cited scientists with single-year impact in various disciplines. The selection is based on the top 100,000 by c-score (with and without self-citations) or a percentile rank of 2% or above. The list below includes those who published a paper in 2024 or later.

Faculty

Jan 30, 2025

Faculty and Staff Awards 2025

Faculty and staff were recognized at the 27th Annual College of Engineering Faculty and Staff Awards for their exceptional service and dedication in support of students, the COE community, and the university during the 2024-2025 academic year.

Faculty

Oct 16, 2024

Developing Worldwide High-Speed Internet Access via Satellite

A group of COE faculty led by ECE Professor and Interim Chair Josep Jornet is partnering with student group Project Horizon and Morehead State University to develop what could be the world’s first sub-THz wireless satellite network testbed.

Ken Duffy

Faculty

Aug 19, 2024

Using Interference Structure To Improve Wireless Communication

ECE/COS Professor Ken Duffy, in collaboration with Boston University and MIT, was awarded a $780,000 NSF grant for “Interferers in Our Midst.” The team will develop methods to improve communication performance in shared, congested, and contested spectrum bands.

Faculty

Jul 08, 2024

Developing the World’s First Sub-THz Satellite Network Platform

ECE Professor and Interim Chair Josep Jornet, MIE Professor Andrew Gouldstone, ECE Professor Kaushik Chowdhury, ECE William Lincoln Smith Professor Tommaso Melodia, and ECE/COS Professor Ken Duffy, in collaboration with the Morehead State University Space Science Center, were awarded a $750,000 NSF grant for the “Development Towards a Community Research Platform for Sub-THz Satellite Communication Networks.”

Faculty

Dec 07, 2023

2023 Stanford University Annual Assessment of Author Citations

The following COE professors are among the top scientists worldwide selected by Stanford University representing the top 2% of the most-cited scientists with single-year impact in various disciplines. The selection is based on the top 100,000 by c-score (with and without self-citations) or a percentile rank of 2% or above.

Ken Duffy

Faculty

Dec 20, 2022

New Faculty Spotlight: Ken Duffy

Ken Duffy joins the Electrical and Computer Engineering department in January 2023 as a Professor with a joint appointment in Mathematics.

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