One of Professor Hao Ling's graduate students, Shobha Sundar Ram, won the Best Student Paper Award at the 2008 IEEE Radar Conference. Her paper Simulation of Human MicroDopplers using Computer Animation Data outlines a new way to aid tracking human activities through building walls and other non-line-of-sight environments. This technology has important applications in search and rescue missions, law enforcement operations, and surveillance.

Ms. Ram compares existing animation data with Doppler radar data of humans engaged in different activities. Each movement has a unique radar signature called a MicroDoppler. The combination of the two sets of data produce virtual renderings similar to that of a video game.