Rashmi Vinayak, an assistant professor in the Computer Science Department (CSD), received the 2021 VMware Systems Research Award for her work to enhance computer system reliability and efficiency by combining coding-theoretic algorithms, machine learning models and systems.

Vinayak has established herself as both a theoretician and a systems researcher. Much of her work on the theory side involves coding theory, which studies and applies the mathematical constructs for transforming data from one form to another in communications and storage. She is known for working closely to understand and develop systems that will have real-world impact. For example, she worked with Twitter to improve cache efficiency by 60%. The research earned top honors at the 2021 USENIX Symposium on Networked Systems Design and Implementation.

The VMware Systems Research Award was established in 2016 to highlight valuable and promising computer science systems research and support emerging researchers. The award honors faculty within the first five years of a tenure-track appointment, and includes $125,000 to fund the recipient's research.

"Both data and compute needs are growing exponentially," said VMware Fellow Pratap Subrahmanyam, also a member of the award selection committee. "Applications with global scope need to be operated reliably and efficiently as we strive for sustainability. Professor Vinayak's work holds a great deal of promise toward useful progress on that journey."

Justine Sherry, also an assistant professor in CSD, won the award in 2020.

Read more about Vinayak's work, her impact on the field and the award on VMware's Office of the CTO Blog.