CV

A web copy of my CV. The most up-to-date PDF is one click away — use the download button on the right.

Contact Information

Name Taimoor Ul Islam
Professional Title Research Assistant Professor
Email tislam@iastate.edu

Professional Summary

Research Assistant Professor at WiCI, Iowa State University. Wireless systems researcher working on Open RAN, 6G, massive MIMO, and rural broadband. 10+ years of combined industry and research experience in communication and networked systems, with current leadership on over $68M of federally funded next-generation wireless research at Iowa State.

Experience

  • 2026 - present

    Ames, Iowa, USA

    Research Assistant Professor
    Iowa State University, WiCI
    • Wireless network architecture and Open RAN research at the Center for Wireless, Communities and Innovation.
    • Lead investigator on field deployments for the ARA Wireless Living Lab, ACCoRD, and ArMORED.
  • 2021 - 2026

    Ames, Iowa, USA

    Research Assistant
    Iowa State University, WiCI
    • Designed, implemented, and deployed the $16M ARA wireless living lab end to end, including network planning, equipment selection, vendor coordination, and field rollout.
    • Lead member at ISU on the $42M NTIA-funded ACCoRD Open RAN project, driving integration and architecture work across O-CU, O-DU, O-RU, and core.
    • Co-led the $10M NTIA-funded ArMORED project on energy-efficient mMIMO O-RAN with Skylark Wireless and Eridan.
    • Led the Skylark Wireless mMIMO deployment and built a publicly available API repo (AraMIMO) for PHY/MAC research.
    • Stood up an OpenStack-based testbed control plane for external researcher access.
  • 2023 - 2023

    Houston, Texas, USA

    Wireless Engineering Intern
    Skylark Wireless, LLC
    • Refined modding APIs for external collaboration on scheduling and grouping algorithms.
    • Industry exposure to mMIMO infrastructure and CI/CD practice.
  • 2015 - 2020

    Islamabad, Pakistan

    Assistant Divisional Engineer
    National Telecom Corporation
    • Planned, deployed, and troubleshot DSLAMs, switches, routers, BRAS, and other network equipment serving hundreds of thousands of customers.
    • Coordinated 3G/4G wireless broadband services with third-party operators.
    • Supervised customer support staff and ensured 24/7 service availability.
    • Forecasted internet capacity, managed inventory, and led ground troubleshooting.
  • 2014 - 2015

    Islamabad, Pakistan

    Application Support Engineer
    Communicators Globe (Pvt) Ltd
    • Deployed Cisco routers and switches; planned microwave communication links.
    • Trained customers and produced product operation manuals.

Education

  • 2021 - 2026

    Ames, Iowa, USA

    Ph.D.
    Iowa State University
    Computer Engineering
  • 2017 - 2020

    Islamabad, Pakistan

    M.S.
    National University of Sciences and Technology
    Electrical Engineering
  • 2010 - 2014

    Islamabad, Pakistan

    B.E.
    National University of Sciences and Technology
    Electrical Engineering

Projects

  • ARA Wireless Living Lab

    $16M, NSF PAWR (2021-present). Designed, implemented, and deployed the testbed serving advanced wireless research and rural communities.

  • ACCoRD

    $42M, NTIA NOFO-1 (2024-present). Lead Open RAN integration and architecture (O-CU, O-DU, O-RU, core) at the ISU site.

  • ArMORED

    $10M, NTIA NOFO-2 (2025-present). Energy efficiency study, test case design, and field deployment for new O-RU prototypes with Skylark Wireless and Eridan.

Awards

  • 2026
    ISU Graduate College Research Excellence Award
    Iowa State University
  • 2026
    GPSS Research Excellence Award
    ISU Graduate and Professional Student Senate
  • 2025
    Best Paper Award
    11th IEEE International Conference on Network Softwarization (NetSoft)

    For “AraRACH: Enhancing NextG Random Access Reliability in Programmable Wireless Living Labs.”

  • 2024
    Best Demo Award
    Midscale Experimental Research Infrastructure Forum (MERIF)

    For “ARA PAWR: Enabling Wireless Experiments with Programmable COTS RAN and X-Haul Platforms.”

  • 2023
    Best Paper Award
    17th ACM Workshop on Wireless Network Testbeds, Experimental Evaluation & Characterization (WiNTECH)

    For “AraMIMO: Programmable TVWS mMIMO Living Lab for Rural Wireless.”

  • 2023
    Best Paper Honorable Mention
    IEEE Future Networks World Forum (FNWF)

    For “Exploring Wireless Channels in Rural Areas: A Comprehensive Measurement Study.”

  • 2014
    Gold Medal, Best Graduating Student
    National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Pakistan
  • 2014
    Roll of Honor
    NUST Islamabad, Pakistan

Skills

Programming: Python, MATLAB, C++
Wireless and RAN: LTE, 5G NR, O-RAN, massive MIMO, OpenAirInterface, srsRAN, Skylark Wireless
Networking and Protocols: TCP/IP, BGP, OSPF, MPLS, SDN, VPN, QoS, VLAN, DHCP, DNS, NAT
Tools and Platforms: OpenStack, Docker, Kubernetes, Ansible, GitLab, CI/CD
Hardware and Vendors: Juniper, Cisco, Huawei, Dell, NI Ettus, Skylark Wireless
Certifications: CCNA Route & Switch (2015), CCNP Route & Switch, MCSE 2012

Professional Service

  • Reviewer for IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, IEEE INFOCOM, ACM IWQOS, IEEE Communications Magazine, International Journal of Computer and Telecommunications Networking, SN Soft Computing Journal, and SN Computer Science Journal.
  • Member of IEEE (since 2022), IEEE Communications Society (since 2022), and ACM (since 2021).
  • Joint President, Telecomm Society, NUST Pakistan (2013-2014).
  • Prefect, Sports and Extracurricular Activities, NUST Pakistan (2013-2014).