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Sunila Akbar

Sessional Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Chair - Women in Computer Science and Engineering, P.Eng

Department:

Electrical Engineering & Computer Science

Email: sunila@yorku.ca

Bio

Sunila has joined the Lassonde School of Engineering as a Sessional Assistant Professor (Teaching Stream) in July 2024. Earlier, she had been a Postdoctoral Fellow and an Instructor at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Toronto since October 2021. She completed her Ph.D. from King’s College London, UK, in 2018, under the prestigious Commonwealth Scholarship.

With about twenty years of experience in academia and industry, Sunila has acquired and applied diverse skills and knowledge in Electrical and Computer Engineering. Her current research interests include machine learning driven optimization for cognitive radar resource management and statistical modeling, analysis, and design of spectral and energy efficient wireless networks. She has published multiple papers in reputed IEEE journals and conferences. She has been serving as an associate editor IEEE Canadian Journal of Electrical and Computer Engineering since June 2022. She is a Senior Member of IEEE and a Fellow of Advance Higher Education, UK.

Sunila is passionate about teaching. She believes in example-based learning, helping students relate theoretical concepts to real-world applications. She is committed to fostering inclusive learning, ensuring all students feel valued and supported.

Research Interests

  • Deep Reinforcement Learning for Cognitive Radar Resource Management
    Learning-based adaptive decision-making for complex, resource-constrained radar systems, with a focus on real-time scheduling and system-level optimization.
  • Wireless Communications
    Signal processing and machine learning techniques for next-generation wireless systems, including adaptive, intelligent, and semantic communication paradigms.
  • Engineering Pedagogy
    Project-based learning, inclusive teaching practices, and pedagogy-driven integration of technology to enhance student engagement and conceptual understanding.

Publications

For a complete list of publications, please visit my Google Scholar profile.

Projects

  • Deep Reinforcement Learning for Adaptive Resource Management in Cognitive Radar (Undergraduate Student Research Award (USRA) - Awarded to 'Yousif Al-dakoki' in Summer 2026)
  • Adaptive AI for Recognizing Unknown Wireless Signals (Lassonde Undergraduate Research Award (LURA) -  Awarded to 'Abdelrahman Eissa' in Summer 2026)
  • A Multimodal Unified Foundation Model for Robust Wireless Sensing (LURA - Awarded to 'Jasraj Gill' in 2025-26)

Courses Taught

York University

Undergraduate Courses

  • EECS 4214 - Digital Communications (Winter 2025, Fall 2025, Winter 2026)
  • EECS 2032 - Intrdoduction to Embedded Systems (Fall 2025 - Summer 2026)
  • EECS 2101 - Fundamentals of Data Structures (Fall and Summer 2025)

University of Toronto

Undergraduate Courses

  • ECE 216 - Signals and Systems (Winter 2023, Winter 2024) - Lectures Playlist
  • ECE 355 - Signal Analysis and Communications (Fall 2022, Fall 2023) - Lecture Notes

NED University of Engg and Tech, Karachi, Pakistan

Undergraduate Courses

  • Signals and Systems (Spring 2020, Spring 2019)
  • Digital Communication and Information Theory (Fall 2018, Fall 2019, Fall 2018)
  • Basic Electronics (Fall 2018)
  • Communication Systems II (Spring 2014, 2009 - 2011)
  • Fundamentals of Telecommunications Engineering (Spring 2013)
  • Electronics (Fall 2012)
  • Digital Communication and Information Theory (2008 - 2009)
  • Basic Electronics (2008 - 2010)
  • Instrumentation (2008, 2005)
  • Circuit Theory (2007, 2006)
  • Programming with C++ (2006)
  • Instrumentation (2005, 2004)

Graduate Courses

  • Probability and Random Processes (Fall 2020)
  • Digital Communication Theory (Spring 2020, Fall 2018)
  • Communication Networks (Fall 2019)

King's College London, UK

Graduate Teaching Assistant

  • Electronic Applications Project and Engineering Lab 1 (Fall 2015, Fall 2016, Fall 2017)
  • Computer Systems (Fall 2017)

Service Work

  • Chair - Women in Computer Science and Engineering (WiCSE) Committee
  • Member - Decolonizing, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (DEDI) Committee
  • Member - Curriculum Revitalization of Computer Engineering Program Task Force
  • Member - Evaluations and Academic Standards Committee
  • Member - Social Events Committee (2024-25)