About me
Hello! I’m a third-year PhD candidate in CMU’s ECE program working with Prof. Akshitha Sriraman. My research passion lies in finding novel ways to make cloud/web systems more sustainable by targeting more efficient use of data center resources (particularly hardware) in order to reduce carbon emissions, e-waste, and other environmental impacts from hyperscale systems. This has manifested in research projects focusing on 1) extending the useful lifetime of servers used in hyperscale web systems through intelligent scheduling and 2) designing a framework to evaluate server designs while considering data center-scale carbon impacts.
Prior to starting my PhD, I graduated from Harvard University (Class of 2022), where I studied Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. I was fortunate to work with Profs. David Brooks and Gu-Yeon Wei on projects related to sustainable computing and fault analysis for machine learning.
While you’re here, participate in my anonymous, very scientific ✨data collection✨. I’m trying to see some things.
The best way to contact me is through email: jaylenw [at] andrew.cmu.edu.
What’ve I been up to?
Latest News
GreenSKU work featured in IEEE Spectrum!
Our GreenSKU work was featured in an IEEE Spectrum article: 'Servers Get a Second Life for Sustainability'
Invited talk on GreenSKU at MSR India
Delivered talk on 'Designing Cloud Servers for Lower Carbon' at MSR India, thanks for the invitation from Dr. Ramjee! Thanks for the great questions!
Invited talk on GreenSKU at AMD Research
Delivered talk on 'Designing Cloud Servers for Lower Carbon' at AMD, thanks for the invitation from Dr. Manne! And thanks to all the attendees for the great discussion!
Second place finalist at Student Research Competition at SOSP
I delivered a talk 'Making Multi-Cluster Scheduling Carbon-Aware' at the Student Research Competition at SOSP 2024 and placed second! Thank you to the judges and organizers!
Presented a poster at SOSP
I presented a poster 'Giving Old Servers New Life at Hyperscale' at SOSP 2024 along with Melissa Pan
Paper presented at HotInfra'24 workshop
Presented our accepted workshop paper 'Designing Cloud Servers for Lower Carbon' at HotInfra 2024 (co-located with SOSP), describing our GreenSKU work and its impact so far
Paper presented at SysDW'24 workshop
Presented 'Giving Old Servers New Life at Hyperscale' along with Melissa Pan at the 2nd Doctoral Workshop (SysDW 2024) at SOSP 2024
(other) Paper presented at SysDW'24 workshop
Presented 'Making Multi-Cluster Scheduling Carbon-Aware' at the 2nd Doctoral Workshop (SysDW 2024) at SOSP 2024
Invited to speak at the ACT Tutorial at MICRO 2024
I delivered a talk on the GreenSKU paper at a tutorial on ACT (Architectural Carbon Modeling Tool) at MICRO 2024. Thanks Udit and Leo for organizing and for the invitation!
GreenSKU work featured in MSN news
Our GreenSKU work was featured in an MSN article: 'Researchers discover new method to curb cloud computing's harmful impact'
Invited talk on GreenSKU at Intel Labs
Delivered talk on 'Designing Cloud Servers for Lower Carbon' at Intel Labs, thanks to the invitation from Dr. Balachandran
Invited talk on GreenSKU at Princeton
Delivered talk on 'Designing Cloud Servers for Lower Carbon' at Princeton's CS Department, thanks for the invitation from Prof. Martonosi!
Invited talk on GreenSKU at Rutgers
Delivered talk on 'Designing Cloud Servers for Lower Carbon' at Rutgers' CS Department, thanks for the invitation from Profs. Nagarakatte and Martin!
GreenSKU work featured in TechXplore article
Our GreenSKU work was featured in a TechXplore article: 'New methodology enables design of cloud servers for lower carbon'
Invited talk on GreenSKU at Google
Delivered talk on 'Designing Cloud Servers for Lower Carbon' at Google to the SystemsResearch@Google (SRG) Group, thanks for the invitation from Dr. Culler!
Served on the MICRO 2024 Artifact Evaluation Committee
I served on the Artifact Evaluation Committee for MICRO 2024, reviewing three amazing papers!
Served as an invited panelist at uArch 2024
I served as Graduate Student Panelist for Undergrad Architecture Mentoring Workshop (uArch) at ISCA 2024. Thanks to the organizers for the invitation!
Boston Celtics win the NBA Championship
My Celtics won the NBA Championship, beating the Mavs in 5 games. Anything is possible.
Paper presented at YArch'24 workshop
Presented 'Giving Old Servers New Life at Hyperscale' at YArch 2024 at ASPLOS 2024
Paper accepted and presented at ISCA 2024
Presented 'Designing Cloud Servers for Lower Carbon' at ISCA 2024 as the only student author. Congrats to my co-authors and collaborators!
CMU News coverage for GreenSKU work
Our research was highlighted in Carnegie Mellon University News: 'Designing Cloud Servers for Lower Carbon Emissions'
Officially a PhD candidate
I passed my PhD Qualifying Exam and am now officially a PhD candidate in ECE at CMU! Thanks to my committee members and the rest of my lab for the support and feedback.
Co-founded the first HotEthics Workshop
I co-founded and organized the 1st Workshop on Hot Topics in Ethical Computer Systems (HotEthics 2024) at ASPLOS along with Akshitha Sriraman and Sara Mahdizadeh Shahri
Invited talk on GreenSKU at UC Riverside
Delivered talk on 'Designing Cloud Servers for Lower Carbon' at UCR's ECE Department, thanks for the invitation from Prof. Ren!
Invited talk on GreenSKU at USC
Delivered talk on 'Designing Cloud Servers for Lower Carbon' at USC's ECE Department, thanks for the invitation from Prof. Annavaram!
Invited talk on GreenSKU at UCSD
Delivered talk on 'Designing Cloud Servers for Lower Carbon' at UCSD'S CSE Department, thanks for the invitation from Prof. Zhao!
Won the Jack and Mildred Bowers Scholarship
Awarded the Jack and Mildred Bowers Scholarship in Engineering, providing full tuition support for the third year of my PhD
Served on ASPLOS 2024 Artifact Evaluation Committee
Served on the Artifact Evaluation Committee for ASPLOS 2024 and reviewed three papers
Blog post published to the ACM SIGARCH Blog
Co-authored ACM SIGARCH Computer Architecture Today blog article 'Reducing Embodied Carbon is Important'
Panel co-organizer at HotOS
Co-organized Panel on Sustainable Systems at The 19th Workshop on Hot Topics in Operating Systems (HotOS 2023)
Paper presented at HotInfra'23 workshop
Presented our accepted workshop paper 'Giving Old Servers New Life at Hyperscale' at HotInfra 2023 (co-located with ISCA)
Ford Foundation Fellowship Honorable Mention
Received Honorable Mention in the Ford Foundation 2023 Predoctoral Fellowship Competition
Awarded the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship
Awarded prestigious NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) Award, providing $171,000 in funding
Benjamin Garver Lamme/Westinghouse Fellowship
Awarded Benjamin Garver Lamme/Westinghouse Graduate Fellowship for full tuition support in second year of PhD
Paper presented at NetZero'23 workshop
Presented our accepted workshop paper 'Characterizing Datacenter Server Generations for Lifetime Extension and Carbon Reduction' at NetZero 2023 (co-located with HPCA)
Started PhD at Carnegie Mellon University
I started my PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, advised by Prof. Akshitha Sriraman
Awarded as Carnegie Institute of Technology Dean's Fellow
Chosen as a fellow to receive full support for a year towards tuition, stipend, and travel
Graduated from Harvard with B.S. in Electrical Engineering
I graduated from Harvard College with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering, summa cum laude. Goodbye Cambridge, hello Pittsburgh!
Awarded the Sophia Freund Prize
Awarded $1000 as the highest ranking undergraduate in the Electrical Engineering department at Harvard
Awarded the Harvard SEAS Dean's Engineering Design Award
Awarded $500 for having one of the top 7 (out of 43) best Senior thesis engineering design projects, big thanks to my mentor Abdulrahman Mahmoud!
Paper presented at YArch'22 workshop
Presented our accepted workshop paper 'A Dataflow-Aware Fault Resilience Analysis Framework for Deep Neural Network Accelerators' at YArch 2022 (co-located with ASPLOS). Thanks to my mentor Prof. Abdulrahman Mahmoud!
Research interests
- Data center systems
- Sustainable computing
- Computer architecture
- Hardware/software co-design
Hobbies/interests (not that you asked)
- 🎾 I’ve played tennis most of my life. I still enjoy playing regularly (through CMU’s club tennis team and with friends). Still trying to figure out how a backhand volley works (seems like there’s a gap in the literature in this).
- 🏀 I’m a big fan of the NBA, particularly of the Boston Celtics. If there’s a Celtics game on, I’ll either be watching or wishing I were watching. If you also love Derrick White and Al Horford, we’ll get along.
- 🍽️ I love making, talking about, and eating food. I may ask you questions such as “what fruit do you think is underrated?”. I apologize in advance.
- 🌲 I enjoy hiking and basically anything with fresh air. Always chasing the thrill of eating a day-old PB&J after reaching the top.
- 🎧 I love listening to podcasts (of almost any kind) and reading books (especially non-fiction, memoirs, and poetry). Please give me recs :)
- 🎵 My proudest achievement is making a Spotify playlist with followers as of . And one of the greatest gifts I’ve received is a fun website that tracks and plots the saves over time.