Fifth-year PhD candidate · Carnegie Mellon ECE
Jaylen Wang
My research addresses the growing carbon emissions of data centers through solutions that span computer architecture and software systems. Much of it concerns the tradeoff between embodied and operational emissions: the carbon spent manufacturing hardware against the carbon spent running it.
- Server design Designing cloud servers that balance energy efficiency with reusing decommissioned components, and evaluating whether the carbon savings survive production performance and fleet constraints.
- Fleet capacity Getting more out of the servers already built, so fewer need to be manufactured and that carbon is never spent. Finding intelligent, performance-preserving ways to use hardware for longer, and letting workloads share capacity so the same demand needs fewer machines.
- Server power Lowering the power consumed by the servers that remain, currently the hosts behind large-scale ML training.
- Advised by
- Akshitha Sriraman
jaylenw [at] andrew.cmu.edu
Background
As demand for web services continues to grow, data centers are scaling up to meet it, consuming a massive amount of energy and producing significant carbon emissions. My research addresses those emissions by analyzing inefficiencies across computer architecture and software systems, and designing solutions that span the compute stack to make these systems more energy and carbon efficient.
A server’s emissions come from two sources: the carbon embodied in manufacturing it, and the carbon emitted while it runs. These frequently pull against each other. Keeping older hardware in service avoids new manufacturing emissions, but that hardware is less energy efficient, so its footprint is increasingly operational. Much of my work is about characterizing that tradeoff and designing systems that account for both sides of it rather than optimizing one in isolation.
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.
What’ve I been up to?
Paper presented at HotInfra'26 workshop
Presented 'Safe CPU Oversubscription: One Size Does Not Fit All' at the 3rd Workshop on Hot Topics in System Infrastructure (HotInfra 2026), co-located with ISCA. Work done with collaborators at Microsoft Azure on how much CPU sharing preserves performance, and what makes that limit move.
Started a research internship at Google
Joined Google in Durham for the summer, leading a project on reducing the power consumed by the host servers that support large-scale ML training. Thanks to Jixin Feng and Soheil Khadir for hosting!
Co-chaired Wild and Crazy Ideas at ASPLOS
Served as co-chair for the Wild and Crazy Ideas session (WACI 2026) at ASPLOS.
Organized the 2nd HotEthics Workshop at ASPLOS
Served as lead organizer for the 2nd Workshop on Ethical Systems and Architecture Design (HotEthics 2026) at ASPLOS, two years after co-founding it.
KV cache paper presented at EMC2'26
'Store or Recompute? Characterizing the Carbon Tradeoff of KV Cache Retention in LLM Inference' was presented at EMC2 2026. Congrats to Abnash Bassi, who led the work!
CMU News coverage for the IEEE Micro Top Picks paper
Our work was highlighted in Carnegie Mellon University News: 'Enabling Sustainable Cloud Computing with Low-Carbon Server Design'
Invited talk on GreenSKU at the University of Washington
Delivered talk on 'Designing Cloud Servers for Lower Carbon' at UW's CSE Department, thanks for the invitation from Prof. Kasikci!
IEEE Micro Top Picks paper published
'Enabling Sustainable Cloud Computing with Low-Carbon Server Design' appeared in the IEEE Micro Top Picks issue, covering the top 12 computer architecture papers of 2024.
Back at Microsoft Research for the summer
Returned to the Azure Systems Research group at MSR Redmond, this time working on CPU oversubscription and how safe sharing limits change across platforms and workloads. Thanks again to Fiodar Kazhamiaka and Daniel Berger.
Served on the ASPLOS 2025 Artifact Evaluation Committee
I served on the Artifact Evaluation Committee for ASPLOS 2025.
Our GreenSKU paper was selected to IEEE Micro Top Picks!
The GreenSKU paper was selected as one of the top 12 computer architecture papers of 2024! Congrats to my collaborators!
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!
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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 Hugo GonzálezThis used to say 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? Or your favorite?” (, according to my very scientific survey). I apologize in advance. If you haven’t had the privilege of being asked in person, take the opportunity to be asked virtually.
- 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 ( today, past week) as of . And one of the greatest gifts I’ve received is a fun website that tracks and plots the saves over time.
Before you go: a very scientific experiment
Participate in my anonymous ✨data collection✨. I’m trying to see some things. Once you fill it out, you’ll get a passcode you can use to view the survey results.