[MS] Research Opportunity: CUDA and GPU Programming in Ray Tracing for Wireless Channel Simulations

The following announcement is from [Bassel Abou Ali Modad – aboualim@usc.edu]. Please contact them directly if you have any questions.

Research Opportunity: CUDA and GPU Programming in Ray Tracing for Wireless Channel Simulations

Advisor: Prof. Andreas Molisch

PhD student: Bassel Abou Ali Modad

At the WiDeS lab, we are working on a cutting-edge interdisciplinary research project involving CUDA parallel programming, ray tracing and wireless communications. The project is about developing accelerated ray tracing algorithms in CUDA to accelerate wireless channel simulations. The application of this project is in digital twins for 5G and 6G cellular networks.

We are looking for a MS student that is proficient in CUDA programming and has some knowledge of ray tracing. No experience in wireless communications or channels is required. You will work directly with a senior PhD student who is always available to help you, and you will be assisting in writing CUDA code mainly for ray tracing and computer graphics tasks, and porting existing C++ ray tracing code to CUDA. You will also participate in proposing new algorithms, prototyping and testing them on real-world scenarios with the help of the PhD supervisor.

There will be direct and frequent communication and exchange of ideas in a collaborative, result-driven, and exciting research environment.

Requirements:

• Major in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or Computer Science
• Expertise in CUDA and GPU programming, and extensive knowledge of C++
• Ability to write clean, modularized, well documented, efficient code
• Highly skilled in debugging complex code
• Coursework in the areas of: Parallel programming, GPU programming, data structures, algorithms
• Ability to communicate ideas efficiently at both a high level and detailed level
• Team player, with good responsiveness to emails and requests
• Can allocate the necessary time for the project each week
• Graduation date: Spring 2026 or beyond. This project will require commitment for more than one semester, with the potential for either a paid student-worker position after the first semester or Directed Research credits.

Additional experience in ray tracing algorithms and frameworks such as NVIDIA OptiX is a plus.

If you are interested, please send a CV and a cover letter detailing your experience and skills for this particular project to Bassel Abou Ali Modad (aboualim@usc.edu) with the subject line [RayTracer]. For full consideration, applications should be received by 09/17/2025.

Published on September 10th, 2025Last updated on September 10th, 2025