A Mega Achievement: Two UC San Diego Computer Science Students Named 2022 Meta PhD Research Fellows

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The University of California San Diego boasts two of this year’s 2022 Meta PhD Research Fellows—37scholars selected from a pool of 2,300 applicants worldwide.

As fellows, Department of Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) PhD students Stewart Grant and Kabir Nagrecha will be able to present their own research, learn about current research at Meta, as well as receive tuition and fees for up to two years and a $42,000 stipend.

Computer Science and Engineering PhD student Stewart Grant

Stewart Grant is a fourth year PhD student working with CSE Professor Alex Snoeren as part of the SysNets Group. His research interests are at the intersection of distributed systems, networking, and operating systems. He is currently focused on finding practical solutions for resource disaggregation using commodity programmable network devices. This work explores techniques for accelerating one-sided RDMA on passive banks of memory.

“If research was not fun I’d likely not be doing it, so I'm very grateful that my environment lets me play and work at the same time. This fellowship has made me consider more deeply the practicality of my work, who may benefit from it, and what path I should consider going forward. It’s all been very… meta,” said Grant.

Computer Science and Engineering PhD student Stewart Kabir Nagrecha

Kabir Nagrecha is a first year PhD student in the Databases Lab, where he is advised by CSE and Halicioglu Data Science Institute (HDSI) Associate Professor Arun Kumar. He received competitive PhD fellowships from both CSE and HDSI. His research focuses on developing systems to enable scalable and efficient deep learning model building and deployment. He aims to amplify the impact of Machine Learning and enable new applications by creating the infrastructure to support large-scale operations.

“I’m glad to have been honored with such a selective and prestigious award. But more than that, what excites me are the opportunities for the future. The fellowship gives me a great channel through which I can collaborate with researchers at Meta,” he said. “I’m hoping to use the fellowship to explore industry-relevant applications of my work as well as connect with experts in my domain who can help provide insight and guidance as my research career progresses.”

In addition, three other UC San Diego PhD students were finalists: Ariana Mirian and Yu-Ying Yeh in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, as well as Lauren Gilbert in the Department of Political Science.