Sonia Aissa received her Ph.D. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada, in 1998. Since then, she has been with the Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (INRS), Montreal, QC, Canada, where she is a Full Professor. During her career in telecommunications, she has held various research posts in Canada, Japan, Malaysia, and the UK. Her research interests include the modeling, design and performance analysis of wireless communication systems and networks, and wireless power technologies.
Professor Aissa is Fellow of the IEEE and Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering. Her awards include the NSERC University Faculty Award 1999; the Quebec Government FRQNT Strategic Faculty Fellowship 2001-2006; the INRS Performance Award multiple times, for outstanding achievements in research, teaching and outreach; the 2007 FRQNT-SYTACom Technical Community Service Award; the 2021 IEEE WICE Outstanding Achievement Award, and the 2022 IEEE VTS Women's Distinguished Career Award. She is recipient of multiple IEEE Best Paper Awards and of the 2012 IEICE Best Paper Award; and recipient of NSERC Discovery Accelerator Supplement Award. She was a Distinguished Lecturer of the IEEE Communications Society (ComSoc) in 2013-2016.
Professor Aissa has an outstanding record of service to the IEEE, and serves regularly on many of its committees. She was a Member-At-Large of ComSoc's Board of Governors 2014-2016. Her editorial activities include: Area Editor, IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications 2014-2019; Editor, IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications 2004-2012; Associate Editor and Technical Editor, IEEE Communications Magazine 2004-2015; and Technical Editor, IEEE Wireless Communications Magazine 2006-2010. She currently serves as Editor-At-Large for the IEEE Transactions on Communications and as Editorial Board Member for IEEE Access. She has been involved in organizing many flagship conferences of the IEEE, including the 2021 IEEE International Conference on Communications for which she served as the TPC Chair. She is active in promoting women in engineering and is the Founder of the IEEE Women in Engineering Affinity Group in Montreal.