David Choffnes, PhD (Distributed Systems, Operating Systems, Networking, 3G, Mobile Wireless Ad-hoc Networks)

Short Research Statement

I focus on solutions to problems that affect large portions of the Internet population and produce software that delivers my research ideas to the scale of hundreds of thousands of users worldwide.
   The motivation for my current work is that our ability to measure and understand the Internet has not kept pace with its rapid expansion and evolution. This gap in our knowledge continues to have real consequences, as it hinders our ability to remedy network faults, to evaluate and optimize performance for applications and to predict the impact of ongoing network growth and changes.
   The primary focus of my ongoing work is to develop new measurement approaches and techniques that enable a richer and broader view of the network -- from the core all the way to end users at the edge. Toward this goal, I am currently working on advanced techniques for gathering more complete network topology information, in addition to exploring crowdsourcing approaches for accessing the user's and application's view of network performance from wired and mobile networks. This information will, in turn, allow us to improve existing distributed systems and design new ones that exploit the results and implications of our measurements.
   I'm currently looking for students interested in Internet measurement and mobile app development. There's great opportunties to contribute for both undergraduates at UW and grad students. Please contact me if you're interested.

Selected Publications (full list)

Crowdsourcing Service-Level Network Event Detection, In Proc. of ACM SIGCOMM 2010, August 2010. (Details and PDF)
Taming the Torrent: A practical approach to reducing cross-ISP traffic in P2P systems, In Proc. of ACM SIGCOMM 2008, August 2008. (Details and PDF)
On the Effectiveness of Measurement Reuse for Performance-Based Detouring, In Proc. of IEEE INFOCOM 2009, April 2009. (Details and PDF)

Current

I am currently a postdoctoral research associate in Tom Anderson's group at the University of Washington. This work is generously funded by the CI Fellows program.

News

The full version of our HotNets paper was accepted to SIGCOMM 2012.
Our work on automatic avoidance of network problems has been accepted to HotNets 2011.
Web browsing is leaking all kinds of personal information. As a first step toward addressing this, we've released Piigeon, a browser extension that informs users of Web login safety before you submit credentials. Please help us by beta testing and giving feedback!
Our work on the network impact of a large distributed system has been accepted for publication in SIGCOMM 2011!
Our work on privacy revelations for Web and mobile apps will appear in HotOS 2011.
I gave a talk about my current work at the AIMS workshop, on the topic of fault isolation in the wide area.
I've been named a 2010 Computing Innovation Fellow, which will support my postdoc work at the University of Washington.
Older news...

Background

I earned my PhD in Computer Science from Northwestern University in June, 2010, where I was awarded two Cabell Fellowships and 2009/2010 Outstanding Disseration in EECS. Prior to that, I graduated from Amherst College, magna cum laude, in 2002 with a double-major in Physics and French. Since the job market for francophone physicists dried up, I was left with no choice but to pursue a career in the textbook-authorship business with Deitel & Associates. In two years, I worked on three books, two of which I coauthored. After that, I decided it was time for me to stop writing about others' work and start making my own to write about. Fortunately, Fabián saw fit to entertain this notion, and the rest is history.

Cetera

For those who don't know me, the following passage has become a theme that runs through my life. In short, I "push the rock," just like Sisyphus from Greek mythology. But Camus tells it better:

As for this myth, one sees merely the whole effort of a body straining to raise the huge stone, to roll it and push it up a slope a hundred times over; one sees the face screwed up, the cheek tight against the stone, the shoulder bracing the clay-covered mass, the foot wedging it, the fresh start with arms outstretched, the wholly human security of two earth-clotted hands. At the very end of his long effort measured by skyless space and time without depth, the purpose is achieved. Then Sisyphus watches the stone rush down in a few moments toward that lower world whence he will have to push it up again toward the summit. He goes back down to the plain. It is during that return, that pause, that Sisyphus interests me. A face that toils so close to stones is already stone itself! I see that man going back down with a heavy yet measured step toward the torment of which he will never know the end. That hour like a breathing-space which returns as surely as his suffering, that is the hour of consciousness. At each of those moments when he leaves the heights and gradually sinks toward the lairs of the gods, he is superior to his fate. He is stronger than his rock.

-- Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus

		David Choffnes Postdoctoral Research Associate and CI Fellow Dept. of Computer Science and Engineering University of Washington Office: 3-344 ~ Home ~
Home Research Statement CV Software Recreation Photos		Short Research Statement I focus on solutions to problems that affect large portions of the Internet population and produce software that delivers my research ideas to the scale of hundreds of thousands of users worldwide. The motivation for my current work is that our ability to measure and understand the Internet has not kept pace with its rapid expansion and evolution. This gap in our knowledge continues to have real consequences, as it hinders our ability to remedy network faults, to evaluate and optimize performance for applications and to predict the impact of ongoing network growth and changes. The primary focus of my ongoing work is to develop new measurement approaches and techniques that enable a richer and broader view of the network -- from the core all the way to end users at the edge. Toward this goal, I am currently working on advanced techniques for gathering more complete network topology information, in addition to exploring crowdsourcing approaches for accessing the user's and application's view of network performance from wired and mobile networks. This information will, in turn, allow us to improve existing distributed systems and design new ones that exploit the results and implications of our measurements. I'm currently looking for students interested in Internet measurement and mobile app development. There's great opportunties to contribute for both undergraduates at UW and grad students. Please contact me if you're interested. Selected Publications (full list) Crowdsourcing Service-Level Network Event Detection, In Proc. of ACM SIGCOMM 2010, August 2010. (Details and PDF) Taming the Torrent: A practical approach to reducing cross-ISP traffic in P2P systems, In Proc. of ACM SIGCOMM 2008, August 2008. (Details and PDF) On the Effectiveness of Measurement Reuse for Performance-Based Detouring, In Proc. of IEEE INFOCOM 2009, April 2009. (Details and PDF) Current I am currently a postdoctoral research associate in Tom Anderson's group at the University of Washington. This work is generously funded by the CI Fellows program. News The full version of our HotNets paper was accepted to SIGCOMM 2012. Our work on automatic avoidance of network problems has been accepted to HotNets 2011. Web browsing is leaking all kinds of personal information. As a first step toward addressing this, we've released Piigeon, a browser extension that informs users of Web login safety before you submit credentials. Please help us by beta testing and giving feedback! Our work on the network impact of a large distributed system has been accepted for publication in SIGCOMM 2011! Our work on privacy revelations for Web and mobile apps will appear in HotOS 2011. I gave a talk about my current work at the AIMS workshop, on the topic of fault isolation in the wide area. I've been named a 2010 Computing Innovation Fellow, which will support my postdoc work at the University of Washington. Older news... Background I earned my PhD in Computer Science from Northwestern University in June, 2010, where I was awarded two Cabell Fellowships and 2009/2010 Outstanding Disseration in EECS. Prior to that, I graduated from Amherst College, magna cum laude, in 2002 with a double-major in Physics and French. Since the job market for francophone physicists dried up, I was left with no choice but to pursue a career in the textbook-authorship business with Deitel & Associates. In two years, I worked on three books, two of which I coauthored. After that, I decided it was time for me to stop writing about others' work and start making my own to write about. Fortunately, Fabián saw fit to entertain this notion, and the rest is history. Cetera For those who don't know me, the following passage has become a theme that runs through my life. In short, I "push the rock," just like Sisyphus from Greek mythology. But Camus tells it better: As for this myth, one sees merely the whole effort of a body straining to raise the huge stone, to roll it and push it up a slope a hundred times over; one sees the face screwed up, the cheek tight against the stone, the shoulder bracing the clay-covered mass, the foot wedging it, the fresh start with arms outstretched, the wholly human security of two earth-clotted hands. At the very end of his long effort measured by skyless space and time without depth, the purpose is achieved. Then Sisyphus watches the stone rush down in a few moments toward that lower world whence he will have to push it up again toward the summit. He goes back down to the plain. It is during that return, that pause, that Sisyphus interests me. A face that toils so close to stones is already stone itself! I see that man going back down with a heavy yet measured step toward the torment of which he will never know the end. That hour like a breathing-space which returns as surely as his suffering, that is the hour of consciousness. At each of those moments when he leaves the heights and gradually sinks toward the lairs of the gods, he is superior to his fate. He is stronger than his rock. -- Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus