I first met David in 2016, right at the start of my PhD journey in Barcelona. I had just moved there, excited to explore new research topics and adapt to life in a new country. A few months before, I had received a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellowship to pursue my PhD in a European doctoral network.
The following months at Bell Labs were truly amazing. It was easy to chat with researchers from different teams, especially during coffee breaks and lunches, which often turned into lively discussions about a wide range of topics. Those discussions were some of the most engaging I’ve ever had.
During the same period, I learned from David how things work in practice, both in real products and as defined in standards (that he knows very well), which was crucial for my work. I remember he once told me that most questions could be answered by referring back to Shannon’s capacity theorem. At first, this seemed like a bit of an exaggeration, but over time, it proved to be incredibly accurate.
My first technical meeting with David after joining Bell Labs is etched in my memory. I was explaining my work on optimization of network resources and he started quizzing me about the assumptions in my simulations. I was stumped—I had inherited the simulation code from previous PhD students and I was building on top of that work without questioning too much the foundations. At the end of that terrible meeting David reassured me saying “I’ve seen worse,” which I didn’t take very positively at that time but taught me an invaluable lesson: to truly own and understand every aspect of my work, even parts handed down by others.
The following months at Bell Labs were truly amazing. It was easy to chat with researchers from different teams, especially during coffee breaks and lunches, which often turned into lively discussions about a wide range of topics. Those discussions were some of the most engaging I’ve ever had.
During the same period, I learned from David how things work in practice, both in real products and as defined in standards (that he knows very well), which was crucial for my work. I remember he once told me that most questions could be answered by referring back to Shannon’s capacity theorem. At first, this seemed like a bit of an exaggeration, but over time, it proved to be incredibly accurate.
One of the challenges we tackled together during my time at Bell Labs involved applying reinforcement learning to my research problem. It proved more complex than I initially thought. Our discussions, often intense, helped transform my initial frustration into fresh, testable ideas. After a few months of extensive tests, I managed to get some good results and this led to our first co-authored paper. Since then, we have written numerous papers together, making him my most frequent co-author.
Leaving Bell Labs on a sunny day in August was bittersweet—I hoped to return someday.
Fast forward a few months, I defended my PhD and was soon working at Huawei in Paris, with David as the technical leader of my team —a scenario that neither of us could have foreseen less than a year earlier. His leadership brought a sense of stability in our team and his deep expertise was our go-to resource. I remember our first task together was writing a very comprehensive paper surveying the literature on the energy efficiency of mobile networks, which required lot of time and effort but turned out to be very rewarding.
Later, we dove into modeling and optimizing mobile networks by using massive data collected by real networks, and machine learning. This project was very challenging. During one of our regular meetings, I suggested applying machine learning to model the power consumption of mobile base stations. This idea evolved into a major research endeavor that occupied me for a couple of years, culminating in the development of an algorithm that was integrated into the final product, now deployed globally, which I consider one of my greatest results. Throughout this period, in the most difficult moments, David taught me the ins and outs of managing projects under pressure—a skill just as crucial as technical expertise, which significantly shaped my approach to work.
Reflecting on all these experiences, I feel incredibly fortunate to have been mentored by David during the crucial early years of my career. He imparted much more than technical knowledge; I learned from him how to present my work effectively, and handle challenging situations that are always under the corner in our daily job. Beyond these skills, he instilled in me the importance of being proactive and the ability to think creatively and push boundaries.
Currently I’m still working in Huawei as a senior researcher, and I believe that much of my success in this role owes a lot to those days of intense discussions and shared discoveries.
Senior Engineer, Huawei Technologies
