Ruslan Nikolaev
Assistant Professor at Penn State University
State College, Pennsylvania, United States
Summary
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Senior🎓
Top SchoolRuslan Nikolaev is an Assistant Professor in Computer Science and Engineering at Penn State with eight years of industry and academic experience bridging systems research and production storage software. He earned a PhD from Virginia Tech and previously led systems work at Pure Storage, where he helped bring the FlashBlade platform from pre-alpha to release by building DPDK-based async I/O, a lock-free metadata cache, and custom control-path drivers. His background includes contributions to Windows USB subsystems at Microsoft and research leadership in systems software at Virginia Tech’s SSRG, reflecting deep expertise in low-level OS, device, and high-performance storage software. Known for combining rigorous research (NSF-sponsored publications) with pragmatic engineering, he frequently moves ideas from prototype to deployed platforms. Based in State College, PA, he brings a rare mix of kernel- and hardware-adjacent engineering experience to teaching and research focused on scalable, reliable system design.
8 years of coding experience
10 years of employment as a software developer
Doctor of Philosophy - PhD, Computer Science, 4.0/4.0, Doctor of Philosophy - PhD, Computer Science, 4.0/4.0 at Virginia TechMaster's degree, Computer Science, 4.0/4.0, Master's degree, Computer Science, 4.0/4.0 at Southern Illinois University, CarbondaleEngineer's degree, Computer Engineering, 3.9/4.0, Engineer's degree, Computer Engineering, 3.9/4.0 at Vladimir State University
English, Russian
Github Skills (8)
fifo10
uefi9
lock-free8
linux4
unikernel4
react4
toolchain4
nextjs3
Programming languages (1)
Github contributions (5)
ssrg-vt/rumprun-smp
Feb 2020 - Jan 2021
Rumprun (SMP version)
Contributions:12 commits, 25 pushes, 2 branches in 10 months
platformslinuxunikerneltoolchain
ssrg-vt/librettos-src
Mar 2020 - Jan 2021
Contributions:7 commits, 14 pushes, 1 branch in 10 months
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