Eric Burger @ Virginia Tech

Interested? Be sure to review what it takes to work for me.

Unless otherwise noted, these positions have a REQUIREMENT for applicants to work on site at the Virginia Tech Researh Center Arlington campus.

I am looking for motivated ECE, Public Policy, and CS students who are looking to make an impact in the world.

If you do not see what you are looking for here, just ask, so long as you have reviewed what it takes to work for me.

Current Openings

Obfuscated 5G

Job Description

We are searching for research assistants, starting in Spring 2023, to work on a multi-year grant to build a obfuscation module for secure communications. Tasks include developing and enhancing techniques for obfuscating video, audio, large file, and low bit-rate data streams. We expect success as we will be building on techniques proven to out-wit AI/ML detection techniques developed by our prior DARPA RACE work. This position will require knowledge of Generative Artificial Intelligence analyzers and generators. You will help develop an architecture and implementation for popular IoT and mobile devices to provide difficult-to-detect data streams for stenographic obfuscation.

Job Requirements

You must have excellent research, writing, and analytical skills. CS or ECE students with a background in AI is essential. Knowledge of embedded programming would be helpful. Experience with TOR, obfs4, and Snowflake are preferred. Expertise in one of Go, Python, and C++ is essential and knowledge of them all is preferred. Knowledge of embedded system programming would be very helpful. Expertise in real-time protocols, such as RTP, RTSP, and control protocols such as SIP is a bonus.

Context-aware Spectrum Sharing and Interference Analysis Tools for Policy Makers and Regulators

Job Description

We are searching for graduate research assistants, starting in Spring 2023, to work on a multi-year grant to build a generalized context-aware spectrum sharing and interference analysis tool that provides a set of dynamic policies and extends the state of the art of spectrum policy regulation. Tasks will include the development and coding of radio propagation models; literature reviews; report writing, copy-editing, and other related tasks. As there are multiple openings for RAs, we do not expect one person to be able to or be interested in doing all of these tasks. If any are of interest, please apply!

Job Requirements

All candidates must have excellent research, writing, and analytical skills. There are two distinct areas for RAs. CS and ECE with knowledge of simulation, data interfacing, or wireless communications are welcome to apply. An interest in public policy is a bonus. SPIA students interested in communications policy are welcome to apply. Experience and familiarity of wireless communications would make one a stronger candidate. Even then, we expect to hire more than one RA for this project, so unless you are a unicorn, feel free to apply if you match at least half the requirements.

Computer Science / ECE / Mathematics / Physics

Programming in MATLAB is required for the implementation positions. A strong candidate will have a background or demonstrated interest in spectrum modeling (physics background will suffice), an understanding of or willingness to learn Monte Carlo simulation techniques, and an understanding or willingness to learn Web API techniques. An understanding of quantitative data analysis will be helpful. A candidate that has everything except MATLAB may be considered, but you will need to build a strong case and a demonstrate the ability to learn new environments quickly.

Policy

Preference will be given to students with a background or demonstrated interest in spectrum policy. In addition to the expectations noted above in the job description, RAs must be able to perform interviews with stakeholders from government, academia, and industry; note-taking during interviews; and qualitative data analysis.

The RAs will be expected to work 20 hours per week. There may be the opportunity for policy work at Federal agencies in DC and at companies and agencies in Maryland and Virginia.

National Security / Emergency Preparedness Communications

Job Description

The technical folks on the project will develop a mobile telephone application and network emergency services router to do a proof of concept of priority communications in a WiFi network, with the possibility of extending the project to 5G. The policy folks on the project will be monitoring, summarizing, and contributing to FCC, NTIA, and other rule makings and notices of inquiry. Both lines of inquiry feed each other - this is a single team, not two separate projects.

Job Requirements

All candidates must have excellent research, writing, and analytical skills. There are two distinct areas for RAs. CS and ECE students with knowledge of network protocols; wireless communciations; real-time protocols such as SIP, RTP, HLS; mobile application development (Android or Apple); and network security are welcome to apply. SPIA students interested in communications policy are welcome to apply. Experience and familiarity of wireless communications would make one a stronger candidate. Even then, we expect to hire more than one RA for this project, so unless you are a unicorn, feel free to apply if you match at least half the requirements.

Computer Science / ECE

Programming in C++ is highly preferred. If you do not know C++ and cannot learn it in two weeks, don’t bother. However, if you do know C++ and have a good reason to use another language, I’m open to considering your favorite.

SPIA

Navigating government filing systems, such as the FCC’s ECFS or NTIA’s public comment notes, would be helpful. If you don’t know it, you will learn. You must be fluent in English as you will be reading a lot, writing more, and likely to go on visits to the Hill, industry sponsors, and regulatory agencies to describe what we are doing, explain our results, and make policy recommendations.

Recent Openings

Economics of Illegal Robocall Mitigation

The FCC has implemented many regulations requiring the deployment of cryptographically secure caller identification signaling in the all-IP network. This enables the carrier to put a notation on the call saying the number was verified. This notation is the “Caller Verified” or green check mark on mobile phones and “[v]” in some networks for landline Caller-ID. However, subscribers still might not answer a verified call from a number they do not recognize. The issue is the subscriber may want to answer the call. It could be a store trying to schedule a delivery, a school calling about a school closure, or a bank calling about a suspicious charge. One proposal to address this is to have the carrier display the caller’s logo, or brand, to the subscriber when the call arrives. The presumption is that while the subscriber may not recognize the caller’s number, they will recognize their logo.

This project will look at the economic impact of branded calling on answer rates, and how the answer rates impact the caller’s business. We hypothesize that branded calling will have different impact for different industry verticals. For example, while branded calling is likely to increase call answer rates for retail delivery scheduling and healthcare calls for scheduling, wellness checks, and tracing, we expect it to have little or perhaps even negative impact on debt collectors.

Job Description

We are seeking undergraduate and graduate research assistants, starting in Summer 2022, to model call answer rates and what the economic impact of higher answer rates has on callers. Examples are more sales, fewer missed deliveries, higher customer / constituent satisfaction, etc. As noted above, this modeling will be for a select number of industry verticals. We expect the RA’s to model the scenarios, run the scenarios, and write up the results.

Job Requirements

All candidates must have excellent research, writing, and analytical skills. CS students with an interest in Economics, Finance, Quantitative Marketing, or Business are preferred, but those majors with a CS minor is also likely to succeed. As we will hire more than one RA for this project, you do not need to check all of the boxes.

Distributed Finance State of the Art Research

Job Description

We are seeking a number of individuals who will research the literature on the status quo of liquify pools, existing market makers across decentralized exchanges, and the characteristics of arbitrage across tokens or coins with different exchange algorithms. Collect and analyze structural characteristics of various arbitrage schemes between different implementations.

This project is ongoing.

Job Requirements

A background in computer science and finance is preferred, but one or the other works. You must be able to work well in an interdisciplinary team environment.

Each RA is expected to work 5-10 hours per week and will be working remotely with regular team meetings.

Next G Wireless Networks

Job Description

Take notes, synthesize results, and ultimately make proposals for adoption by the Next G Alliance. Students interested in the Societal and Economic Needs and Novel Applications for 6G wireless systems are urgently needed. Students interested in wireless technology, power efficient communications, and using the communications network for energy optimization are also encouraged to apply.

This project is ongoing.

Job Requirements

A basic understanding of computer science concepts is a baseline. You must be willing and able to quickly learn about wireless networks; the converse is you will be paid to learn. Interest in policy is a plus.

The RAs will be assigned to particular work groups. Those work groups have biweekly GoToMeeting calls. Your academic schedule must not conflict with these work group calls. As there are six work groups, it is likely we will find a group that will accommodate your schedule, but once you commit, your are committed. The RA is expected to work 5-10 hours per week and will be working remotely.

Other Opportunities

If you see a research area on my research page that you do not see here, feel free to reach out to me to see if I have an opening anyway. As well, if you have an idea for a project, we can always setup an independent study program. Finally, I may be able to find funding for your idea, so do not hesitate to ask.