PhD Student Openings

I am currently looking for talented, hard-working PhD students broadly in the systems area. Our lab focuses on next generation experimental computer systems, with a particular emphasis on operating systems, high-performance computing, and computer architecture. We also do work in virtualization and cloud computing, security, high-performance networking, parallel programming languages, and runtime systems. If you are curious about what goes on inside all of the computational devices that increasingly pervade our lives, if you enjoy building things and hacking on cutting-edge systems, and if you like to think about the future of computers, science, and technology, I encourage you to apply. I am especially interested in recruiting deeply curious students who enjoy prototyping new ideas and who have a passion for diving into, understanding, and creating new systems.

Requirements and Qualifications

Qualified applicants will have a solid CS background under their belts, with a strong set of programming skills and particular strength in systems. I expect you will have at least a basic understanding of algorithms, data structures, computer organization and architecture, operating systems, and compilers. Particularly well-suited candidates will have experience with parallel programming and will have had experience working in substantial code bases, such as OSes, compilers, VMMs, emulators, or the like.

Why come to Illinois Tech and Chicago?

Illinois Tech (IIT) is a rising star in the Chicago area, and both the university as a whole and the CS department are undergoing a period of significant growth, with talented new faculty coming aboard every year. Illinois Tech’s CS department has particular strength in the HPC and distributed systems area.

If you’re looking for a top-notch graduate school experience, but prefer to live in a metropolitan area, Chicago is a fantastic choice. The tech scene is on the rise, with the City of Chicago showing significant interest in transforming the city into a tech hub. The big schools in the area form a tight-knit community of scholarship, so doing research in Chicago will present many opportunities for collaboration across institutions in the Midwestern US. Aside from the academic motivations for coming to Chicago, it would be difficult to find a more exciting city to live in while carrying out graduate studies. If you’re interested in food culture, art, the theater, microbreweries and craft cocktails, great local coffee, a thriving live music and festival scene, a large swath of parks for cycling and running, comparatively cheap housing, great public transit, or sports, then you will enjoy living in Chicago. There really is something for everyone here.