Tyler Estro
	Ph.D. Candidate  File Systems and Storage Lab (FSL)  Advisor: Professor Erez Zadok  E: testro [at] cs [dot] stonybrook [dot] edu  Google Scholar  CV

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I'm a Ph.D. student in the Department of Computer Science at Stony Brook University. I'm a member of the File Systems and Storage Lab (FSL) and affiliated with the Institute for AI-Driven Discovery and Innovation. My current research focuses on tiered-memory systems that leverage Compute Express Link (CXL) technology. I’ve published across a diverse range of topics, including the efficient exploration and optimization of multi-tier caching systems, performance modeling, visualization, artificial intelligence, and even applications of high-performance computing and AI in life sciences.

If you see me around, ask me about my research, hobbies, or just say hello and blankly stare. I'm always looking for new opportunities and collaborations. :)

Education

• Ph.D. in Computer Science - SUNY Stony Brook University, NY. (2018-Current)
• B.S. in Software Technology - SUNY Farmingdale, NY.
• A.S. in Business Administration - SUNY Suffolk, NY.

Graduate Coursework

• CSE 502 - Computer Architecture
• CSE 504 - Compiler Design
• CSE 506 - Operating Systems
• CSE 509 - Systems Security
• CSE 519 - Data Science Fundamentals
• CSE 540 - Theory of Computation
• CSE 541 - Logic in Computer Science
• CSE 547 - Discrete Mathematics
• CSE 548 - Analysis of Algorithms

Work Experience

• Research Assistant: File Systems and Storage Lab, Stony Brook University, NY. (May 2018-Current)
• High Performance Computing Assistant: Institute for Advanced Computational Science, Stony Brook University, NY. (Aug 2017-May 2018)

Teaching Experience

• Graduate Teaching Assistant: CSE 506 Operating Systems, Professor Erez Zadok, Stony Brook University, NY. (Spring 2019)
• Graduate Teaching Assistant: CSE 564 Visualization, Professor Klaus Mueller, Stony Brook University, NY. (Fall 2018)
• Graduate Teaching Assistant: XSEDE HPC Workshop: Big Data, Stony Brook University, NY. (February 2018)
• Graduate Teaching Assistant: CSE 219 Computer Science III, Professor Richard McKenna, Stony Brook University, NY. (Summer 2017)

Publications

• Smart Starts: Accelerating Convergence Through Uncommon Region Exploration
  Xinyu Zhang, Mario Antunes, Tyler Estro, Erez Zadok, Klaus Mueller
  The Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO), to appear July 2025 (Short paper & poster)
• Into the Void: Mapping the Unseen Gaps in High Dimensional Data
  Xinyu Zhang, Tyler Estro, Geoff Kuenning, Erez Zadok, Klaus Mueller
  Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics (TVCG), to appear June 2025
• Kneeliverse: A Universal Knee-Detection Library for Performance Curves
  Mario Antunes, Tyler Estro, Pranav Bhandari, Anshul Gandhi, Geoff Kuenning, Yifei Liu, Carl Waldspurger, Avani Wildani, Erez Zadok
  SoftwareX, May 2025
• Accelerating multi-tier storage cache simulations using knee detection
  Tyler Estro, Mario Antunes, Pranav Bhandari, Anshul Gandhi, Geoff Kuenning, Yifei Liu, Carl Waldspurger, Avani Wildani, Erez Zadok
  Computer Science, Engineering - Performance Evaluation, February 2024
• Persistent Memory Research in the Post-Optane Era
  Peter Desnoyers, Ian Adams, Tyler Estro, Anshul Gandhi, Geoff Kuenning, Mike Mesnier, Carl Waldspurger, Avani Wildani, Erez Zadok
  Proceedings of the 1st Workshop on Disruptive Memory System, October 2023
• Guiding Simulations of Multi-Tier Storage Caches Using Knee Detection
  Tyler Estro, Mario Antunes, Pranav Bhandari, Anshul Gandhi, Geoff Kuenning, Yifei Liu, Carl Waldspurger, Avani Wildani, Erez Zadok
  31st IEEE International Symposium on the Modeling, Analysis, and Simulation of Computer and Telecommunication Systems (MASCOTS '23), October 2023, Stony Brook, NY
• PC-Expo: A Metrics-Based Interactive Axes Reordering Method for Parallel Coordinate Displays
  Anjul Tyagi, Tyler Estro, Geoff Kuenning, Erez Zadok, Klaus Mueller
  IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, August 2022
• Social Sensors for Wildlife: Ecological Opportunities in the Era of Camera Ubiquity
  Alex Borowicz, Heather Lynch, Tyler Estro, Catherine Foley, Bento Gonçalves, Katelyn Herman, Stephanie Adamczak, Ian Stirling, Lesley Thorne
  Frontiers in Marine Science, May 2021
• Desperately Seeking ... Optimal Multi-Tier Cache Configurations
  Tyler Estro, Pranav Bhandari, Avani Wildani, and Erez Zadok
  12th USENIX Workshop on Hot Topics in Storage (HotStorage ’20), July 2020
• Analyzing the distribution fit for storage workload and Internet traffic traces
  Muhammad Wajahat, Aditya Yele, Tyler Estro, Anshul Gandhi, and Erez Zadok
  Performance Evaluation, June 2020
• Distribution Fitting and Performance Modeling for Storage Traces
  Won Best Paper Award!
  Muhammad Wajahat, Aditya Yele, Tyler Estro, Anshul Gandhi, and Erez Zadok
  27th IEEE International Symposium on the Modeling, Analysis, and Simulation of Computer and Telecommunication Systems (MASCOTS '19), October 2019, Rennes, France
• ICE: Interactive Configuration Explorer for High Dimensional Categorical Parameter Spaces
  Anjul Tyagi, Zhen Cao, Tyler Estro, Klaus Mueller, and Erez Zadok
  IEEE Conference on Visual Analytics Science and Technology (VAST '19), October 2019, Vancouver, Canada

Posters

• Computer vision for the detection and segmentation of penguin colonies in satellite imagery
  Tyler Estro, Hieu Le, Bento Goncalves, Brad Spitzbart, Dimitris Samaras, Heather J. Lynch
  Microsoft’s AI for Good Summit, October 2019, Redmond, WA
• Graphs Are Not Enough: Using Interactive Visual Analytics in Storage Research
  Zhen Cao, Tyler Estro, Geoff Kuenning, Klaus Mueller, Anjul Tyagi, and Erez Zadok
  11th USENIX Workshop on Hot Topics in Storage (HotStorage '19), July 2019, Renton, WA
• Towards Better Understanding of Black-box Auto-Tuning: A Comparative Analysis for Storage Systems
  Zhen Cao, Tyler Estro, Vasily Tarasov, Sachin Tiwari, Erez Zadok
  2018 USENIX Annual Technical Conference (ATC'18), July 2018, Boston, MA

Academic Projects

• RISC64IM CPU Core: Implementation of a fully functional processor core for the RISC64IM ISA in System Verilog. Included a 5-stage data path, set-associative L1 and L2 caches with write-back and LRU replacement policies, victim caching, translation lookaside buffers, and dynamic branch prediction.
• Per-process system calls: Independently developed a Linux kernel-based module that enabled each process to have their own system call vector. Supported dynamically uploading new system calls and vector assignment via command line ioctl input.
• TRFS: A stackable Linux file system based off the “wrapfs” file system used to trace file system activity, featuring record checksum validation and incremental ioctl support.
• Designed logic programming problems for the ICLP 2016 LP/CP Programming Contest (Teaching Brackets and Subway Tickets). [ICLP 2016]

Awards

• Best Paper Award, 27th IEEE International Symposium on the Modeling, Analysis, and Simulation of Computer and Telecommunication Systems (MASCOTS '19), October 2019, Rennes, France
• First Place in the "Battle of the Brains" Programming Competition, SUNY Suffolk, NY. (2012)
• Computer Science, Engineering, and Mathematics Scholarship (CSEMS), SUNY Suffolk, NY. (2012)