Why become a student or PostDoc at WiDeS

The Viterbi School at USC is one of the top engineering schools in the USA, and WiDeS is proud to be a part of this great environment. In this tradition, we perform cutting-edge research that has a high profile – many of our papers are highly cited or gain best-paper awards, and thus create a solid basis for the future careers of our PhD students and PostDocs. Our alumni are now professors in academia, work in the research departments of companies ranging from Amazon to Google to Intel, or are key members of startups.

At WiDeS, we subscribe to the following principles -

• comply to the "rulebook" of WiDeS.
• close collaborations between the group members : collaborations almost always enhance the output of everybody involved. We encourage information exchange between all group members. Every group member will participate in weekly meetings. Also, weekly meetings with Prof. Molisch are part of the routine.
• non-hierarchical thinking : scientific ideas are judged on their merits, not according to who suggested them. That is the good thing about science: there is an objectively correct answer. Side note: Administrative questions are, naturally, decided by project leaders and the head of group.
• interest in practical applications : the group deals with a wide range of topics, ranging from pure measurements to quite theoretical work. But ultimately, everything has to have a relation to the physical reality, and you are encouraged to spend at least some time to think about those relationships. You are also encouraged to spend at least one or two summers in an industrial research lab, and we will help you to land such an internship.

If you feel that you fit in well in such an atmosphere, you are interested in our research areas , and you have the "hard skills" to contribute to world-class research, then please fill out the application form here and you will be contacted later.

Women, underrepresented minorities, and students with disabilities are especially encouraged to apply.

Open positions for PhD Students and PostDocs

WiDeS has openings for PhD students for fall 2021, in particular in the fields of RF (channel) measurements, signal processing for propagation channels, channel modeling, machine learning, and mobile edge computing. If you want to apply, please check the section Why become a student or PostDoc at WiDeS.
If you have external funding and want to become a visitor, please check the section For Prospective Visitors.

PostDoc and PhD Positions Available at USC: Federated Learning for Wireless Edge Caching

The WiDeS group of Prof. Andy Molisch at the University of Southern California seeks a PostDoctoral Researcher and/or PhD student to work on the application of federated learning to wireless edge caching. The position is available starting October 1st 2022. In addition to the PostDoc position, applications for full-time or visiting PhD students (starting Jan. 2023) are also welcome.
The work, which is funded by the National Science Foundation. Edge caching based on popularity distribution has been show to dramatically improve performance of wireless content distribution systems with concentrated popularity distributions, in particular for wireless video streaming. Since the popularity distribution can change from location to location, and with time, determination and prediction of popularity distribution, and adaptation of the cache content are required, which can be handled by machine learning techniques. In order to protect privacy, federated learning techniques should be applied.

The WiDeS group is a pioneer in popularity-based wireless edge caching, having suggested fundamental concepts in several highly cited papers. This, as well as a recent emphasis on machine learning in the group, provides an environment that includes a strong team of researchers, PostDocs, and PhD students with accumulated knowledge and experience; for details see https://wides.usc.edu. The successful candidate(s) will have the opportunity to interact with both the WiDeS group as well as other groups across campus. Mentoring and career support will be provided to the successful candidate.

A successful Postdoctoral candidate(s) will have a solid background in federated learning and/or wireless edge caching. A good publication record is expected. A successful PhD candidate will have suitable courses in machine learning and/or caching, and enthusiasm for the topic; previous research experience is of advantage. In either case, a CV with details of the applicable experience, skills, and publications, and contact details (or recommendation letter) of at least one reference should be sent to molisch at usc.edu. For full considerations, applications should be sent by 9/10/2022. After this date, the search will continue until the position is filled.

Applications from female researchers and underrepresented minorities are particularly encouraged.

For Prospective Visitors

WiDeS is proud of its many international collaborations, and are positive to hosting visitors. However, please note that the Viterbi-school is space-limited, and therefore limits on the number of visitors, as well as strict procedures for the approval of visitors by the dean, are in place. This holds for all visitors, from PhD students to PostDocs, to faculty.

If you want to visit WiDeS, the first step is to send an email to Prof. Molisch with a description of what you envision for your visit. Please do not send a generic “Dear sir…” letter – it will not be considered. Elaborate why a visit would be productive, where you see the synergies between your work and the work going on at WiDeS, etc. It should form the basis of a detailed research plan that will be worked out between you and us if the synergies look promising.

Finally, please note that as per USC policy, visiting PhD students with scholarships from CSC cannot be accepted (students with funding from their home universities, or PostDocs/faculty with CSC funding are ok).

PostDoc and visiting PhD Positions Available at USC: Wireless Channel Measurement and High-Resolution Evaluation

The WiDeS group of Prof. Andy Molisch at the University of Southern California seeks a PostDoctoral Researcher to work on the measurement of wireless propagation channels, and particularly the high-resolution evaluation of those measurements. Emphasis of the work is in the mmWave and THz frequency range. The position is available starting October 1 st 2021. In addition to the PostDoc position, applications for visiting PhD students are also welcome.

The work, which is funded by the National Science Foundation as well as industrial sponsors, aims to develop new measurement technologies, perform measurement campaigns, and extract parameters by means of high resolution parameter estimation of propagation channels in the frequency range between 20 and 500 GHz. The resulting channel models will be of great interest in the development of 6G systems.

The group is one of the world leaders in the area of propagation channel measurement and modeling, with cutting-edge equipment, a strong team of researchers, PostDocs, and PhD students with accumulated knowledge and experience in measurement and modeling techniques, and a long history of innovations; for details visit WiDeS website. The University of Southern California is ranked among the top-10 universities in the US in engineering (US News and World Report). The PostDoctoral Fellow will have the opportunity to interact with both the WiDeS group as well as other groups across campus. Mentoring and career support will be provided to the successful candidate.

The successful candidate(s) will have a solid background in high resolution parameter extraction for channel measurements and/or experience with propagation channel and/or RF measurements, preferably in the mmWave/THz range. A good publication record is expected. A CV with details of the applicable experience, skills, and publications, and contact details (or recommendation letter) of at least one reference should be sent to molisch@usc.edu. For full considerations, applications should be sent by 9/25/2021. After this date, the search will continue until the position is filled.

Applications from female researchers and underrepresented minorities are particularly encouraged.