From a scientific point of view, it is worth mentioning that the research group led by Prof. Bane Vasic is focused on theoretical foundations of communications engineering and signal processing. This is in quite sharp contrast with my engineering background, that is more application-oriented. Therefore, it afforded me the opportunity to perform high risk type of research, similar to the research performed during the FP7-FET Open project i-Risc. Although it was difficult in the beginning, due to having to shift my focus and rewind all the theoretical, mathematical foundations, the effort is paying off. In other words, it seemed to me that the educational policy in USA is more focused on high risk research, compared to Europe. Furthermore, this high risk, and in many cases highly theoretical, type of research finds easier ways to be applied in the real economy (intellectual property transfers, start-ups, etc.), which also explains why most of the major technology companies are US-based.

From a cultural point of view, Tucson represented a major change with respect to what I have been used to in Europe. Two reasons for this change were: (1) the city itself, which is very widespread; (2) the Sonora desert, which represented a totally new landscape for me.