From October 23 to October 24, the International Workshop on Information Theory: From Wireless Communications to Statistical Inference was hosted by School of Electronic Information and Communication in HUST. The theme of the conference is to demonstrate latest research results of information theory in wireless communication and statistical inference fields and to discuss the challenge and opportunity that information theory faces in these fields.

Professor Zheng Lizhong from Massachusetts Institute of Technology delivered the report named "Tthe Information Theory Method of Data Analysis", pointing out the fundamental disadvantages of the application of classic information theory to statistical inference and machine learning on the background of dig data and the bringing out a new frame based on information geometry. Professor Liu Tie from Texas A&M University mentioned a new definition for multivariable mutual information and used it on problems found in functional gene cluster of computational biology with the hope of considerable result. Professor Yang Chenyang from Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Professor Tao Xiaofeng from Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Professor Liu Nan from Southeast University and a dozen of other famous scholars delivered reports that introduced new progress in the fields of network information theory, wireless communication and statistical inference, progress including capacity depiction of interference channel, multiple access of large amounts of users and inequation of information extremum.

In the round-table discussion, participants had deeper discussion on the challenge for wireless communication, the opportunity for information theory in fields of big data statistical inference and computational biology and other issues including the prospect of EE and the integration of EE and CS.

During the workshop, Luo Qingming the Vice President of HUST met with Zheng Lizhong and Liu Tie and discussed about the application prospect of information technology in neurosciences. Dean of School of Electronic Information and Communication Wang Shu made an opening speech.

It is said that information theory, as one of three footstones of information age, pioneered building the concept and relative theory frame of "information" and guided many branches of this course directly and clearly, especially communication. To a large extent, the huge success acquired by wireless communication in the past 20 years attributed to the effective guidance of information theory. In fact, right now wireless communication still faces challenges and needs information theory to offer guidance. With the arrival of big data era, statistical inference faces great challenges that make many classic statistical results invalid. Besides, big data also brings challenges to calculate level. In response to these challenges, information theory is expected to offer effective guidance and help from angles such as depiction performance limit and full use of structural information of big data.