Community of Research

Systems Community of Research

The Systems CoR is focused on building and investigating large-scale software systems that power modern computers, phones, data centers, and networks, including operating systems, the Internet, wireless networks, databases, and other software infrastructure.

Our research spans a variety of topics, including the design of novel architectures, the scalability, efficiency, reliability, and security of existing systems, and the tools and languages to build such systems.

Contact us

If you would like to contact us about our work, please refer to our members below and reach out to one of the group leads directly.

Last updated Mar 31 '23

Research Areas

Computer Architecture

Programming Languages & Software Engineering

Security & Cryptography

Systems & Networking

Impact Areas

Members

Sam Madden

Arvind Mithal

Hari Balakrishnan

Adam Belay

Michael Cafarella

Michael Carbin

Adam Chlipala

David Clark

Henry Corrigan-Gibbs

Christina Delimitrou

Jack Dennis

Joel Emer

Manya Ghobadi

John Guttag

Daniel Jackson

Frans Kaashoek

Lalana Kagal

David Karger

Tim Kraska

Barbara Liskov

Charles E. Leiserson

Robert Morris

Martin Rinard

Daniel Sanchez

Julian Shun

Karen Sollins

Michael Stonebraker

Nickolai Zeldovich

Projects

Project

Pervasive Parallelism with the Swarm Architecture

Computation Structures Group

Systems Community of Research

Vertical AI Community of Research

Our research aims to scale hard-to-parallelize applications through new programming models and multicore architectures. Our goal is to enable
programmers to write efficient and scalable parallel programs as easily as they
write sequential programs today.

Daniel Sanchez

Victor Ying

Leads

Daniel Sanchez

Victor Ying

Research Areas

Computer Architecture

Programming Languages & Software Engineering

Systems & Networking

Daniel Sanchez

Victor Ying

News

Sam Madden, MIT professor, CSAIL member, and Cambridge Mobile Telematics co-founder.

Systems & Networking Big Data Internet of Things Wireless

May 28 '24

CSAIL’s Madden receives the 2024 Edgar F. Codd Innovations Award

Sam Madden ’99, MNG ’99, MIT professor, CSAIL member, and Cambridge Mobile Telematics co-founder, received the Codd Innovations Award from ACM SIGMOD for his research contributions to data management.

CSAIL’s Madden receives the 2024 Edgar F. Codd Innovations Award

In an effort to decentralize the fight against online misinformation, MIT researchers developed the Trustnet browser extension, which empowers individuals to assess the accuracy of any content on any website, and also view content assessments from people they trust (Credits: MIT News; iStock).

Human-Computer Interaction Systems & Networking Education Entertainment

May 16 '24

New tool empowers users to fight online misinformation

The Trustnet browser extension lets individuals assess the accuracy of any content on any website.

New tool empowers users to fight online misinformation

Researchers from MIT and elsewhere designed a communication framework that enables academics to ask for research help on social media using meronymous communication, in which the asker only reveals certain verified aspects of their identity. They found that meronymous communication encouraged people to ask questions they otherwise might not have for fear of judgment from more senior scientists (Credits: MIT News; iStock).

Human-Computer Interaction Systems & Networking Education

April 18 '24

For more open and equitable public discussions on social media, try “meronymity”

A communication system whose users reveal only a few verified aspects of their identity can empower less confident participants to speak up, researchers report.

For more open and equitable public discussions on social media, try “meronymity”

To close the gap with classical computers, researchers created the quantum control machine — an instruction set for a quantum computer that works like the classical idea of a virtual machine (Credits: Alex Shipps/MIT CSAIL).

Algorithms & Theory Programming Languages & Software Engineering Big Data

April 16 '24

A blueprint for making quantum computers easier to program

A CSAIL study highlights why it is so challenging to program a quantum computer to run a quantum algorithm, and offers a conceptual model for a more user-friendly quantum computer.

A blueprint for making quantum computers easier to program

Researchers from MIT and elsewhere developed a machine-learning framework that can generate multiple plausible answers when asked to identify potential disease in medical images. By capturing the inherent ambiguity in these images, this technique could prevent clinicians from missing crucial information that could inform diagnoses (Credits: MIT News; iStock).

AI & ML Graphics & Vision Big Data Health Care

April 11 '24

New AI method captures uncertainty in medical images

By providing plausible label maps for one medical image, the Tyche machine-learning model could help clinicians and researchers capture crucial information.

New AI method captures uncertainty in medical images

Left to right: Jacob Andreas, Adam Belay, and Arvind Satyanarayan

AI & ML Human-Computer Interaction Programming Languages & Software Engineering Systems & Networking Big Data

February 29 '24

3 CSAIL members named 2024 Sloan Research Fellows

Fellows honored for creativity, innovation, and research accomplishments.

3 CSAIL members named 2024 Sloan Research Fellows

Clockwise from top left: Athul Paul Jacob, Maohao Shen, Victor Butoi, and Andi Peng (Credits: Courtesy of the researchers).

AI & ML Graphics & Vision Human-Computer Interaction Robotics

January 18 '24

Reasoning and reliability in AI

PhD students interning with the MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab look to improve natural language usage.

Reasoning and reliability in AI

Speranza is a new system for usable (certificate-based) anonymous software signing (Credit: Alex Shipps/MIT CSAIL).

Programming Languages & Software Engineering Security & Cryptography Systems & Networking Cybersecurity

November 30 '23

Boosting faith in the authenticity of open source software

"Speranza" brings hope to users that the package they download is software, not malware.

Boosting faith in the authenticity of open source software

SecureLoop is an MIT-developed search engine that can identify an optimal design for a deep neural network accelerator that preserves data security while improving energy efficiency and boosting performance. This could enable device manufacturers to increase the speed of demanding AI applications, while ensuring sensitive data remain safe from attackers (Credits: Jose-Luis Olivares, MIT).

AI & ML Computer Architecture Security & Cryptography Cybersecurity

October 30 '23

Accelerating AI tasks while preserving data security

The SecureLoop search tool efficiently identifies secure designs for hardware that can boost the performance of complex AI tasks, while requiring less energy.

Accelerating AI tasks while preserving data security

Members of the MIT engineering faculty received a number of awards in recognition of their scholarship, service, and overall excellence in the past calendar quarter (Credits: Christopher Harting).

AI & ML Computer Architecture Programming Languages & Software Engineering Systems & Networking Education Internet of Things Transportation Wireless

October 26 '23

CSAILers within School of Engineering receive third quarter 2023 awards

CSAIL faculty and researchers within MIT’s School of Engineering receive many awards in recognition of their scholarship, service, and overall excellence.

CSAILers within School of Engineering receive third quarter 2023 awards

AI & ML Graphics & Vision Big Data Health Care

October 13 '23

CSAIL’s Dalca earns MICCAI Young Scientist Publication Impact Award

The MICCAI Society honored Adrian Dalca SM ‘12 PhD ‘16 with the Young Scientist Publication Impact Award for his 2018 work, where his team applied convolutional neural networks to 3D brain scans.

CSAIL’s Dalca earns MICCAI Young Scientist Publication Impact Award

MIT researchers introduce Lightning, a reconfigurable photonic-electronic smartNIC that serves real-time deep neural network inference requests at 100 Gbps (Credits:Alex Shipps/MIT CSAIL via Midjourney).

AI & ML Computer Architecture Systems & Networking Internet of Things

September 11 '23

System combines light and electrons to unlock faster, greener computing

“Lightning” system connects photons to the electronic components of computers using a novel abstraction, creating the first photonic computing prototype to serve real-time machine-learning inference requests.

System combines light and electrons to unlock faster, greener computing

Scientists from MIT and Microsoft Research have developed a unique technique that can synchronize media streams being streamed over different networks to multiple devices with less than 10 milliseconds of inter-stream delay. They used this technique to synchronize audio and video streams in cloud gaming, but it could also be more broadly applied in AR/VR applications (Credit: Jose-Luis Olivares/MIT).

Systems & Networking Entertainment Internet of Things Wireless

August 31 '23

A system to keep cloud-based gamers in sync

By synchronizing media streams transmitted from the cloud to two devices, researchers could improve cloud gaming and AR/VR applications.

A system to keep cloud-based gamers in sync

MIT CSAILers Barbara Liskov and Rodney Brooks.

Programming Languages & Software Engineering Robotics

August 01 '23

Liskov and Brooks earn Computer History Museum Fellow Awards

Barbara Liskov, MIT professor emerita and CSAIL principal investigator, and Rodney Brooks, former CSAIL director, earned Computer History Museum Fellow Awards last month.

Liskov and Brooks earn Computer History Museum Fellow Awards

A second-year doctoral student in electrical engineering and computer science and affiliate of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), Sussman channels the energy he feels at MIT into his graduate research, which focuses on building better computer networks (Photo: Gretchen Ertl).

Systems & Networking Wireless

July 07 '23

Building connections

PhD student Will Sussman studies wireless networks while fostering community networks.

Building connections

Researchers have created Metior, a system to examine how a hacker can circumvent a particular type of cybersecurity method, in an effort to determine how much secret information that attacker could steal from a computer program (Image: iStock).

Computer Architecture Security & Cryptography Systems & Networking Cybersecurity

June 28 '23

MIT researchers devise a way to evaluate cybersecurity methods

The system analyzes the likelihood that an attacker could thwart a certain security scheme to steal secret information.

MIT researchers devise a way to evaluate cybersecurity methods

AI & ML Systems & Networking

April 26 '23

Ghobadi named ACM-W Rising Star

MIT EECS associate professor and CSAIL principal investigator Manya Ghobadi received the ACM-W Rising Star Award for computer networks research.

Ghobadi named ACM-W Rising Star

Researchers from MIT and elsewhere set out to see if they could use machine learning to build better hash functions.

Algorithms & Theory AI & ML Systems & Networking Big Data

March 13 '23

A new method to boost the speed of online databases

Researchers use machine learning to build faster and more efficient hash functions, which are a key component of databases.

A new method to boost the speed of online databases

MIT professor and CSAIL principal investigator Hari Balakrishnan

AI & ML Systems & Networking Wireless

February 28 '23

Hari Balakrishnan awarded Marconi Prize

The prize is the top honor within the field of communications technology.

Hari Balakrishnan awarded Marconi Prize

Siddhartha Jayanti teaches young students in India about computer science

Algorithms & Theory Computer Architecture Big Data Education

January 30 '23

Making computer science research more accessible in India

Passionate about creating educational opportunities in India, PhD student Siddhartha Jayanti recently explored multiprocessor speed limits, in a paper written in the Indian language Telugu.

Making computer science research more accessible in India

Programming Languages & Software Engineering

January 30 '23

Liskov named Franklin Institute Awards Laureate

Earlier this year, The Franklin Institute named Barbara Liskov, MIT Institute Professor Emerita and CSAIL principal investigator, as a laureate while awarding her the 2023 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Computer and Cognitive Science for her impactful research on computer programming languages and methodology.

Liskov named Franklin Institute Awards Laureate

Programming Languages & Software Engineering

November 16 '22

MIT wins world finals of the 45th International Collegiate Programming Contest

Students reflect on their top performance in Dhaka, Bangladesh, which ended a 44-year drought for MIT.

MIT wins world finals of the 45th International Collegiate Programming Contest

Algorithms & Theory Systems & Networking Education Entertainment

November 16 '22

Empowering social media users to assess content helps fight misinformation

An experimental platform that puts moderation in the hands of its users shows that people do evaluate posts effectively and share their assessments with others.

Empowering social media users to assess content helps fight misinformation

AI & ML Systems & Networking Internet of Things

November 03 '22

Ghobadi wins SIGCOMM Rising Star Award

MIT CSAIL’s Manya Ghobadi was recently awarded the SIGCOMM Rising Star Award for her work with reconfigurable fiber optical networks and machine learning applications.

Ghobadi wins SIGCOMM Rising Star Award

AI & ML Computer Architecture Systems & Networking Education Health Care

October 17 '22

CSAIL graduate student earns Microsoft Research PhD Fellowship

MIT CSAIL graduate student Mingran Yang recently received the 2022 Microsoft Research PhD Fellowship for her systems and networking research.

CSAIL graduate student earns Microsoft Research PhD Fellowship

Starvation in End-to-End Congestion Control

Algorithms & Theory Systems & Networking Big Data Internet of Things Wireless

August 04 '22

Researchers discover major roadblock in alleviating network congestion

Algorithms designed to ensure multiple users share a network fairly can’t prevent some users from hogging all the bandwidth.

Researchers discover major roadblock in alleviating network congestion

A security technique to fool would-be cyber attackers

Security & Cryptography Cybersecurity

March 02 '22

A security technique to fool would-be cyber attackers

Researchers demonstrate a method that safeguards a computer program’s secret information while enabling faster computation.

A security technique to fool would-be cyber attackers

Algorithms & Theory Systems & Networking

August 23 '21

Who can bend light for cheaper Internet?

MIT and Facebook’s reconfigurable fiber optics network to battle the end of Moore’s law.

Who can bend light for cheaper Internet?

Computer Architecture Programming Languages & Software Engineering Big Data Cybersecurity

April 16 '21

A tool for navigating complex computer instructions

Algorithms & Theory AI & ML

December 02 '20

Shrinking massive neural networks used to model language

A new approach could lower computing costs and increase accessibility to state-of-the-art natural language processing.

Shrinking massive neural networks used to model language

Systems & Networking Big Data

August 10 '20

Data systems that learn to be better

Storage tool adapts to what its datasets’ users want to search.

Data systems that learn to be better

AI & ML Security & Cryptography Systems & Networking Health Care

April 09 '20

Automated Covid-19 contact tracing - while preserving privacy

New system uses Bluetooth signals from your smartphone, with the goal of automating Covid-19 contact tracing while preserving privacy

Automated Covid-19 contact tracing - while preserving privacy

February 03 '20

A smart surface for smart devices

External system improves phones’ signal strength 1,000 percent, without requiring extra antennas.

A smart surface for smart devices

Algorithms & Theory Security & Cryptography

January 31 '20

Giving cryptocurrency users more bang for their buck

Routing scheme boosts efficiency in networks that help speed up blockchain transactions.

Giving cryptocurrency users more bang for their buck

Formally verified working file system could lead to computers guaranteed never to lose your data.

Security & Cryptography Systems & Networking Cybersecurity

August 24 '15

Crash-proof computer systems

In a computer operating system, the file system is the part that writes data to disk and tracks where the data is stored. If the computer crashes while it’s writing data, the file system’s records can become corrupt. Hours of work could be lost, or programs could stop working properly.At a symposium this fall, MIT researchers will present the first file system that is mathematically guaranteed not to lose track of data during crashes. Although the file system is slow by today’s standards, the techniques the researchers used to verify its performance can be extended to more sophisticated designs. Ultimately, formal verification could make it much easier to develop reliable, efficient file systems.