Shuwen (Jethro) Sun

PhD Student

Shuwen Sun
  • MS in Computer Science, Boston University
  • BEng in Software Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University - China

Jethro (Shuwen) is a PhD student in the computer science program at Northeastern University’s Khoury College of Computer Sciences, advised by Professor David Choffnes. Jethro's research involves systems and networking and he is a member of the Networked Systems Research Group.

Previously, he received his MS (2017) in Computer Science from Boston University, during which his research revolved around performance diagnosis for distributed systems and data center networking. He also holds a BEng (2015) in Software Engineering from Sun Yat-sen University. 

What are the specifics of your graduate education (thus far)?

I am a second-year PhD student studying computer science, and my research interests lie in various aspects of networked systems. Prior to Northeastern I have worked on performance diagnosis for distributed systems and novel network architecture.

What are your research interests?

I primarily work in the areas of systems and networking. My current research centers around designing and building computer systems (e.g., networked systems, distributed systems, and operating systems) toimprove performance, reliability, and security. I am also broadly interested in bridging the gap betweentheory and practice, and adapting interdisciplinary methods for systems research.

What’s one problem you’d like to solve with your research/work?

Mobile device networking consumes a large potion of today’s Internet network traffic, however, users often face poor performance, privacy leaks and numerous attacks that exploit software vulnerabilities. I am interested in exploring new networking abstractions which can provide each device with its own virtual network that individual user can configure and control.

What aspect of what you do is most interesting?

Systems research is a fascinating field, and I am always interested in understanding, designing and implementing systems. Personally, I like to work on problems that are intellectually challenging and practical — which systems research is all about.