Current Research
At Symantec Research Labs, I built the Worldwide
Intelligence Network
Environment (WINE), a platform for experimenting with Big Data
techniques in cyber security.
Playing with new Big Data ideas is challenging for many researchers
and engineers,
because of the need for specialized computing infrastructures
and for large data sets that
are representative of real-world problems.
WINE loads, samples and aggregates multiple data feeds, originating
from millions of hosts around the world, and keeps them up-to-date.
This allows researchers to conduct open ended and reproducible
experiments, such as measuring the
duration of zero-day attacks
and evaluating the real-world impact of
security technologies.
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Prior Research
I am broadly interested in dependable systems large and small, with an emphasis on data intensive techniques. I worked on improving the dependability of large-scale distributed systems (addressing operator errors during software upgrades), of enterprise systems (addressing the predictability of fault-tolerant middleware), and of embedded systems (addressing soft errors in networks-on-chip).
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Dependable, Online Upgrades in Distributed Systems
In my doctoral dissertation, I identified the leading causes of both unplanned failures (breaking hidden dependencies) and planned downtime (migrating persistent data) when upgrading large-scale enterprise systems. Building on empirically-derived insights on current upgrade practices and problems, I proposed a mechanism that harnesses the opportunities provided by emerging technologies, such as cloud computing, to improve the dependability of end-to-end upgrades in distributed systems.
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Transparent Adaptation in Fault-Tolerant Middleware
I designed and implemented the MEAD (Middleware for Embedded Adaptive Dependability) system, for providing transparent fault-tolerance and adaptation to legacy CORBA applications.
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Fault-Tolerant Communication in Networks-on-Chip
I proposed the first fault-tolerant communication protocol for networks-on-chip (NoC).
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Assistive Technologies
I built a text-recognition system for the visually-impaired and a system for correcting the effects of color-blindness.
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