Biography


Roger
I'm a computer science Ph.D. student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison working under the supervision of Prof. Theodoros (Theo) Rekatsinas (now at Apple). My current research focuses on the intersection of systems and algorithmic challenges for IO-aware and resource-efficient training of large-scale ML models.

In particular, I work on large-scale training of Graph Neural Networks and Graph Embeddings. I am co-leading (with Jason Mohoney) the Marius project which aims to make deep learning over billion-scale graphs easier, faster, and cheaper.

Beyond CS, I have a background in physics and engineering. I am excited about current developments in fields such as renewable energy, battery technology, electric motors, plasma science, and fusion energy.


Publications


Computer Science
Chameleon: a Heterogeneous and Disaggregated Accelerator System
for Retrieval-Augmented Language Models.
Jiang, W., Zeller, M., Waleffe, R., Hoefler, T., Alonso, G.
In Submission. 2023.
Repeated Random Sampling for Minimizing the Time-to-Accuracy of Learning.
Okanovic, P.*, Waleffe, R.*, Mageirakos, V., Nikolakakis, K. E., Karbasi, A., Kalogerias, D., Gürel, N. M., Rekatsinas, T.
Data-centric Machine Learning Research (DMLR) Workshop at ICML. 2023.
*Equal contribution.
MariusGNN: Resource-Efficient Out-of-Core Training of Graph Neural Networks.
Waleffe, R., Mohoney, J., Rekatsinas, T., Venkataraman, S.
18th European Conference on Computer Systems (EuroSys ’23). 2023.
Principal Component Networks:
Utilizing Low-Rank Activation Structure to Reduce Parameters Early in Training.
Waleffe, R., Rekatsinas, T.
ACM/IMS Journal of Data Science. 2023.
Demo of Marius: A System for Large-scale Graph Embeddings.
Xie, A., Carlsson, A., Mohoney, J., Waleffe, R., Peters, S., Rekatsinas, T., Venkataraman, S.
Proceedings of the VLDB Endowment, 14(12). 2021.
Marius: Learning Massive Graph Embeddings on a Single Machine.
Mohoney, J., Waleffe, R., Xu, Y., Rekatsinas, T., Venkataraman, S.
15th Symposium on Operating Systems Design and Implementation. 2021.
A laboratory model for the Parker spiral and magnetized stellar winds.
Peterson, E. E., Endrizzi, D. A., Beidler, M., Bunkers, K. J., Clark, M., Egedal, J., Flanagan, K., McCollam, K. J., Milhone, J., Olson, J., Sovinec, C. R., Waleffe, R., Wallace, J., Forest, C. B.
Nature Physics. 2019.
Media coverage: PBS, Quanta, Wired, Cosmos, Science News, UW-Madison
Driving magnetic turbulence using flux ropes in a moderate guide field linear system.
Brookhart, M. I., Stemo, A., Waleffe, R., Forest, C. B.
Journal of Plasma Physics. 2017.
Investigation of magnetic mirror configurations at the WiPPL facility and their applications.
Waleffe, R., Peterson, E. E., Anderson, J., Clark, M., Wallace, J., Forest, C. B.
60th Annual Meeting of the APS Division of Plasma Physics. 2018.
Poster (presented by Anderson, J.)
Stability of an axisymmetric, non-paraxial mirror and its applications for a fusion neutron source.
Waleffe, R., Perterson, E. E., Mirnov, V., Forest, C. B.
59th Annual Meeting of the APS Division of Plasma Physics. 2017.
Poster
High Current, High Density Arc Plasma Source for WiPAL.
Waleffe, R., Endrizzi, D. A., Peterson, E. E., Forest, C. B.
58th Annual Meeting of the APS Division of Plasma Physics. 2016.
Poster

Education


Ph.D. - Computer Science
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Sep. 2019 - Present
M.S. - Computer Science
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Sep. 2019 - May 2022
Overall GPA: 4.00/4.00
B.S. - Applied Mathematics, Engineering, and Physics (AMEP)
B.S. - Computer Science
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Sep. 2015 - May 2019
Overall GPA: 4.00/4.00

Selected Experience & Awards


UW-Madison CS Department Graduate Research Fellowship, 2019
Goldwater Scholarship, 2018
Software Development Engineer - Intern
Amazon
Summer 2018
Undergraduate Researcher and Engineer
Wisconsin Plasma Physics Lab at UW-Madison
Jan. 2016 - May 2018