PEARL

Performance, Efficiency, Autonomy, and Reliability in Computing Systems

The main goal of our Research Lab is to derive unique insights on and improve the performance, efficiency, and reliability of large-scale computing systems. Our research questions and revisits long-standing concepts and abstractions in system software, in the context of technology trends and workload evolution. We use experimental and theoretical approaches to enable autonomic management of system resources. Our current emphasis is on the automated synthesis of memory management algorithms and data structures, new abstractions and architectures for Cloud Computing and taming extreme heterogeneity in High Performance Computing.

RESEARCH

HETEROGENEOUS SCALABLE MEMORY SYSTEMS

Managing inherent and architected heterogeneity in current and future memory systems. Revisiting virtual memory management abstractions and algorithms in light of new memory technologies and emerging workloads.

SERVERLESS COMPUTING

Introducing new abstractions and capabilities for Functions-as-a-Service to add hardware diversity and enable higher performance

TRAINLESS MACHINE LEARNING SYSTEMS

Removing the training bottleneck from machine learning and moving training out of the Cloud. Exploring system solutions for unsupervised learning at the edge of networks.

SYNTHESIS OF HIGH-PERFORMANCE DATA STRUCTURES

Rethinking how data structures for high-performance computing are designed and explore new data structure synthesis methodologies.

DIMITRIOS NIKOLOPOULOS

Lab Director

​

Professor of Computer Science and by courtesy Electrical and Computer Engineering, working in system software and high-performance computing. Current interests include memory systems and new approaches to Cloud Computing.

MOUSTAFA KAHLA

PhD Student

​

Working on rethinking virtual memory management in the context of new software and hardware technologies.

MELISSA CAMERON

PhD Student

Working on rethinking large-scale and concurrent data structures in the context of new software and hardware technologies.

MD SAYEEDUL ISLAM

PhD Student

Working on making heterogeneous memories usable and profitable for emerging workloads.

DANIEL MOYER

MSc Student

About to complete a thesis on ephemeral communication for Functions-as-a-Service. Delivered the first such capability for AWS Lambda.

LALITHA KUPPA

Undergraduate Researcher

Rethinking page migration in Linux in an era of extreme heterogeneity and non-volatility in server memory systems.

OPEN POSITIONS

RESEARCH ASSISTANTS (ALL LEVELS)

We have a mission to develop young talent in Computing Systems Research and we are looking for new students to join our team at all levels (PhD, MSc, or Undergraduate).  You will have excellent opportunities and state of the art equipment to address challenging research  problems and shape the future of large-scale computing systems. We offer an open, collaborative and conducive research environment. We have trained more than fifty (50) PostDoctoral Fellows, PhD Students, MSc students, and Undergraduates, all of whom are now in senior and leadership positions in academia and industry. Our researchers benefit from our strong network of research partners in government and industry and have extensive opportunities for internships and joint research.

CONTACT US

KWII, 2202 Kraft Drive, Blacksburg, VA 24060