“At IMDEA Networks we focus on publishing on top journals, which gives us high visibility in the research community”

Why, what, how and where: an alumnus takes stock of his experience as a predoctoral researcher at IMDEA Networks

21 October 2019

We interview one of the members of our Alumni Network, Dr. Hany Assasa. Hany obtained his PhD from IMDEA Networks and Universidad Carlos III de Madrid back in July and he is still at our institute as a Post Doc Researcher. He and Dr. Joerg Widmer have just received funding by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) of the U.S. Department of Commerce to work on a new simulator for the next generation mmWave standards.

Dr. Hany Assasa sums up his experience at IMDEA Networks as a PhD student. He’s now enrolled in a project with Dr. Joerg Widmer, Research Professor and Research Director at our institute. The “comprehensive Simulation Model for IEEE 802.11 for the ns-3 Network Simulator” project is aiming to improve the efficiency of wireless networking in the millimeter-wave (mmWave) band through the next generation multi-gigabit standard called IEEE 802.11ay. This standard plans to use sophisticated physical layer techniques such as multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) communication, channel bonding and aggregation, advanced beamforming techniques, and high order modulation schemes.

This project has received funding by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) of the U.S. Department of Commerce and will be developed at IMDEA Networks facilities from September 2019 to August 2020. Here is the transcription of Hany Assasa’s interview:

Why did you decide to pursue a PhD?

After completing my Bachelor studies back in Syria in 2010, I worked for Huawei Technologies for almost two years as a Backup Switch Engineer. There I got the chance to see how things work in practice. However, after some time your knowledge gets saturated and your tasks become very repetitive. And this motivated me to start a research career. In research you have the opportunity to work on state-of-the-art technology and stay up-to-date with the latest innovation in the telecommunication industries.

What would you highlight about your time as a PhD student at IMDEA Networks?

So basically I would say that I had a very fruitful time at IMDEA Networks. IMDEA has a very international environment, you meet people from different countries around the world, you exchange ideas and you have very fruitful talks. In addition, you have the opportunity to work with top scientists and top researchers in the field of telecommunication. In my case, I worked under the supervision of Dr. Joerg Widmer, who’s a top scientist and researcher in the Wireless Networking domain. He was all the time following my progress, giving me continuous feedback to improve my results and achieve high quality results and research.

Do you feel your time at IMDEA Networks prepared you well for your professional career?

Definitely, my time here has helped me to proceed a professional career. So first of all, at IMDEA Networks we focus on submitting and publishing on top conferences and top journals, which gives us high visibility in the research community. In addition, IMDEA Networks has a lot of collaborations and partnerships with academia, research centers and industry. Everyone knows about how IMDEA performs a high quality research. During my four years and a half at IMDEA, I got the opportunity to do two internships at two of the best research centers in Europe and that actually improved my skills and allowed me to work on different topics in my area.

Have you moved into industry, academia or the research sector?

At the moment, I’m going to continue working at IMDEA Networks as a Post Doc. I will stay here for one year through a grant that we have received from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in the USA. We will be developing a new simulator for the next generation millimeter-wave standards, called IEEE 802.11ay.