My experience combines industrial R&D, wireless standardization, and academic leadership across AI/ML for wireless communications, 5G/6G, and Wi-Fi. This page summarizes my industry and academic roles, education, selected recognitions, R&D projects, and professional service.

 

Jump to: Industry · Academia · Education · Recognitions · Projects · Service · Beyond Work

 

Industry Experience

  • Nokia, Spain
    Team Leader – AI-RAN (2026-present)
    Senior Applied Scientist – AI (2025)

  • Telefónica Research, Barcelona, Spain
    Principal Research Scientist (2023–2025)

  • Nokia Bell Labs, Dublin, Ireland
    Research Scientist (2016–2018)

  • Alcatel-Lucent, Vimercate, Italy
    Research Intern (2009)

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Academic Experience

  • Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain
    Associate Professor (2023–present)
    Head of Telecommunications (2020-2024)
    Assistant Professor (2018–2023)

  • Singapore University of Technology and Design, Singapore
    Postdoctoral Fellow (2014–2015)
    Advisor: Prof. Tony Q. S. Quek

  • The University of Texas at Austin, United States
    Visiting Researcher (2013)
    Advisor: Prof. Jeffrey G. Andrews

  • Supélec, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
    Visiting Researcher (2012)
    Advisor: Prof. Mérouane Debbah

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Education

  • The University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
    Ph.D. Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications (2014)
    Dissertation: Physical Layer Security for Multi-User MIMO Systems
    Advisors: Prof. Jinhong Yuan and Prof. Iain B. Collings
    Awarded three competitive scholarships from the Australian Govt., CSIRO ICT, and UNSW.

  • Politecnico di Milano, Italy
    M.Sc. Telecommunications Engineering (2009)
    [110/110 "cum laude"] [Best M.Sc. Thesis Award from Milan Academy of Sciences and Arts]
    Advisor: Prof. Arnaldo Spalvieri

  • Università di Palermo, Italy
    B.Sc. Telecommunications Engineering (2005)
    [110/110 "cum laude"] [Special mention for an outstanding B.Sc. academic career (highest GPA)]
    Advisor: Prof. Ilenia Tinnirello

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Selected Recognitions

  • Best Paper Runner-Up Award, NeurIPS ’25 AIML4NextG Workshop, 2025

  • IEEE Vehicular Technology Society Distinguished Speaker, 2025–2028

  • IEEE ICC Best Paper Award, 2025 (∼3,000 submitted, ∼1,000 accepted, 17 awarded)

  • IEEE Communications Theory Technical Committee Early Achievement Award, 2023
    “For outstanding contributions to UAV communications and Wi-Fi and their dissemination”

  • IEEE Globecom Best Paper Award, 2022 (∼2,800 submitted, ∼1,100 accepted, 16 awarded)

  • IEEE Future Networks, Non-terrestrial Networks for B5G and 6G, Runner-Up Award, 2022

  • IEEE Vehicular Technology Society Distinguished Lecturer, 2021–2025

  • IEEE Communications Society Distinguished Lecturer, 2021–2023

  • “Ramón y Cajal” Fellow, 2021–2023 (one of the most competitive early-career grants in Spain)

  • IEEE PIMRC Best Paper Award, 2019 (536 submitted, 268 accepted, 4 awarded)

  • IEEE Senior Member Elevation, 2019

  • IEEE Communications Society EMEA Outstanding Young Researcher Award, 2018
    (Given to the top-3 researchers under 35 across Europe, Middle East, and Africa for “promising research activities for the benefit of the society”.)

  • “la Caixa” Junior Leader Fellow, 2018–2021 (< 10% success rate)

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R&D Projects

Industry R&D Projects as PI

  • HORIZON-JU-SNS-2024-STREAM-B-01-05 project “6G-MIRAI” on “Machine Intelligence based Radio Access Infrastructure” (Telefónica, 2025-2028).

  • HORIZON-SESAR-2023-DES-ER-02 project “ANTENNAE” on “Data driven cost effective 5G integrated CSN as a service” (Telefónica, 2024–2026).

  • Spanish Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation and the European Union NextGenerationEU, UNICO I+D Project TSI-063000-2021-59 “RISC-6G” on “Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces and Low-power Technologies for Communication and Sensing in 6G Mobile Networks” (Telefónica, 2022–2024).

  • Spanish Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation and the European Union NextGenerationEU, UNICO I+D Project TSI-0630002021-138 “6G-SORUS” on “Sustainable orchestration of VRANs, UAVs and surfaces for 6G” (Telefónica, 2022–2024).

  • H2020-MSCA-ITN-2020 “META WIRELESS” on “Future Wireless Communications Empowered by Reconfigurable Intelligent Meta-Materials” (Telefónica, 2023–2024), Beneficiary.

Academic R&D Projects as PI

  • MINECO Project PID2024-156488OB-I00 “GenAI-6G“ on “Generative AI and Foundation Models for 6G“ (Universitat Pompeu Fabra, 2025–2028).

  • Ayuda de Consolidación Investigadora CNS2023-145384 “INTENSE” on “Integration of Terrestrial and Non-terrestrial Networks for Aerial Services” (Universitat Pompeu Fabra, 2024–2026).

  • MINECO Project PID2021-123999OB-I00 “INTERTWINE” on “Integrated Non-terrestrial Wireless Networks” (Universitat Pompeu Fabra, 2022–2025).

  • Ayuda Ramón y Cajal on “Tecnologías de la información y de las comunicaciones” (Universitat Pompeu Fabra, 2021–2026).

  • MINECO Project RTI2018-101040-A-I00 “WiND” on “Wireless networks for drones” (Universitat Pompeu Fabra, 2019–2022).

  • “la Caixa” Banking Foundation Junior Leader Fellowship on “Cellular networks for drone communications” (Universitat Pompeu Fabra, 2018–2021).

  • H2020-MSCA-ITN-2018 “PAINLESS” on “Energy-autonomous portable access points for infrastructure-less networks” (Universitat Pompeu Fabra, 2018–2022), Associated Partner.

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Service

Industry Training Appointments

  • Professional Course Instructor, IEEE Communications Society Education & Training, 2024-2025
    Designed a new course on: "Fundamentals of Wi-Fi: From 802.11ax to 802.11be and Beyond"

  • Distinguished Lecturer, IEEE Vehicular Technology Society, 2021–2025

  • Distinguished Lecturer, IEEE Communications Society, 2021–2023

Journal Editorial Board Positions

Conference Technical Program Committees

  • Tutorials Co-Chair, IEEE PIMRC, Valencia, Spain, Sept. 2024.

  • Workshops Co-Chair, IEEE MeditCom, Madrid, Spain, July 2024.

  • Co-Chair, Track on Emerging Technologies, Network Architectures, and Applications”, IEEE WCNC, Dubai, UAE, Apr. 2024.

  • Lead Co-Chair, Wireless Communication Symposium, IEEE Globecom, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Dec. 2023.

  • Co-Chair, Track on “IoV, IoT, M2M, Sensor Networks, and Ad-Hoc Networking”, IEEE VTC Spring, Helsinki, Finland, June 2022.

  • Co-Chair, Wireless Communication Symposium, IEEE ICC, Seoul, Korea, May 2022.

  • Co-Chair, Track 7 on “IoV, IoT, M2M, Sensor Networks, and Ad-Hoc Networking”, IEEE VTC Spring, Helsinki, Finland, Apr. 2021.

Organization of Workshops, Special Sessions, and Industry Fora

  • Co-Chair, Workshop on “Cellular UAV and Satellite Communications”, IEEE Globecom, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Dec. 2023.

  • Co-Chair, Workshop on “Integrating UAVs into 5G and Beyond”, IEEE ICC, Rome, Italy, May 2023.

  • Co-Chair, Workshop on “Cellular UAV and Satellite Communications”, IEEE Globecom, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Dec. 2022.

  • Co-Chair, Workshop on “Integrating UAVs into 5G and Beyond”, IEEE ICC 2022, Seoul, Korea, May 2022.

  • Organizer, Industry Forum on “Non-terrestrial Networks in 5G and 6G”, IEEE WCNC 2022, Austin TX, USA, Apr. 2022.

  • Co-Chair, Workshop on “Cellular UAV and Satellite Communications”, IEEE Globecom, Madrid, Spain, Dec. 2021.

  • Co-Organizer, Industry Forum on “IEEE 802.11be: Towards the Future Wi-Fi 7”, IEEE ICC, Virtual, June 2021.

  • Co-Chair, Workshop on “Integrating UAVs into 5G and Beyond”, IEEE ICC, Virtual, June 2021.

  • Co-Chair, Workshop on “UAV Communications for 5G and Beyond”, IEEE PIMRC, Virtual, Aug. 2020.

  • Co-Chair, Workshop on “Integrating UAVs into 5G and Beyond”, IEEE ICC, Virtual, June 2020.

  • Co-Chair, Workshop on “Integrating UAVs into 5G and Beyond”, IEEE ICC, Shanghai, China, May 2019.

  • Co-Chair, Special Session on “UAV Cellular Communications in 5G”, Asilomar, Pacific Grove CA, USA, Oct. 2018.

  • Steering Committee Member, Workshop on “UAV Communications for 5G and Beyond”, IEEE PIMRC, Bologna, Italy, Sept. 2018.

  • Co-Chair, Workshop on “Large-Scale Antenna Systems in Licensed and Unlicensed Bands”, IEEE Globecom, Singapore, Dec. 2017

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Beyond Work

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