Dan R. K. Ports

I am a researcher in the Systems Research Group at Microsoft Research.

My research focuses on distributed systems -- using a combination of new algorithms and systems techniques to build practical systems that are faster, more reliable, easier to program, and more secure.

I take a broad view of the systems field: besides distributed systems, I've worked in operating systems, networking, databases, architecture, and security. I believe that looking across the entire systems stack yields interesting opportunities at the intersection of these areas.

Most of my work these days involves rethinking how distributed systems should be built for the datacenter environment. I lead the Prometheus project at MSR, which asks how we can use new reconfigurable devices, such as programmable dataplane switches and smart NICs, to support advanced systems applications. The key idea is to co-design distributed systems with new network primitives.

Before joining MSR, I was on the faculty in CSE at the University of Washington. I still advise a few excellent students over there.

An increasingly long time ago (i.e., 2012), I was a student at MIT, where I was (approximately) Barbara Liskov's last Ph.D. graduate. Even before that, I was an undergraduate at MIT.