Biography

Roger
I'm a fourth year computer science Ph.D. student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison working under the supervision of Prof. Theodoros (Theo) Rekatsinas. 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 coleading (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
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.
arXiv EuroSys '23 Talk @ Cornell DB Seminar
Principal Component Networks: Parameter Reduction Early in Training.
Waleffe, R., Rekatsinas, T.
Hardware Aware Efficient Training (HAET) Workshop at the 39th ICML. 2022.
arXiv HAET Workshop
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.
VLDB '21
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.
arXiv OSDI '21
Physics
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
Nature Physics
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.
Journal of Plasma Physics
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
poster pdf abstract pdf
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