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HPC research, teaching, and software engineering.

Table of contents

General Information

Full Name Melanie Cornelius
Based in Chicago, Illinois
Email melanie.e.cornelius@gmail.com

Profile

  • I'm a computer scientist with a deep appreciation for the role of solid engineering in meaningful research. I hold a B.S. in physics and an M.S. in computer science, and I spent over three years in industry, giving me an academic foundation rooted in real-world software design and maintenance. I then transitioned into R&D and Ph.D. work. I now have over five years of experience in HPC research and have found great fulfillment in teaching, starting as a lab instructor and lecturer, and advancing to an adjunct professor role.
  • I consider it essential to balance innovation and novelty with grounded software practices. This view comes from my industry experience and is sustained by a genuine passion for exciting ideas that deliver practical impact. I work well in collaborative, high-pressure environments, and when teaching, I focus on integrating tangible skills and real-world projects with core computer science principles.

Education

  • 2023 - present
    PhD Candidate (fully qualified), Computer Science
    University of Illinois at Chicago
    • Expected graduation May 2027.
    • Member of the SPEAR lab.
  • 2019 - 2023
    PhD Candidate, Computer Science
    Illinois Institute of Technology
  • 2016 - 2018
    Master of Science, Computer Science
    Illinois Institute of Technology
  • 2011 - 2016
    Bachelor of Science, Physics (cum laude), Minor in Computer Science
    Illinois Institute of Technology

Research Experience

  • May 2024 - present
    Research Assistant
    Argonne Leadership Computing Facility
    • Refresh facility reports on supercomputer state and system data using D3 and TypeScript.
    • Data governance and provenance at-scale across the ALCF.
    • Supervisor: Doug Waldron.
  • Aug 2017 - May 2024
    Research Assistant
    Illinois Institute of Technology
    • HPC system log analysis and co-location studies.
    • Created a performance monitoring suite for heterogeneous HPC architectures.
    • Supervisor: Dr. Zhiling Lan.
  • May 2021 - Sep 2021
    Research Aide
    Argonne Leadership Computing Facility
    • Advanced the capabilities of performance monitoring and debugging in LLVM/Clang and OpenMP.
    • Supervisor: Johannes Doerfert.
  • 2018, 2020
    Research Aide
    Argonne Leadership Computing Facility
    • Researched novel and prototype architecture performance.
    • May - Aug 2018 and May - Aug 2020.
    • Supervisor: Lisa Childers.

Teaching

  • 2026 - present
    Adjunct Professor
    Loyola University Chicago
    • COMP 464: High Performance Computing (Fall 2026).
    • COMP 150: Introduction to Computing (Spring 2026).
    • COMP 125: Visual Information Processing (Spring 2026).
  • Aug 2023 - Dec 2023
    Adjunct Professor
    Illinois Institute of Technology
    • Instructor for CS 351: Systems Programming - robust use of the OS and low-level libraries and software.
  • Aug 2017 - Aug 2023
    Lab Instructor and Teaching Assistant
    Illinois Institute of Technology
    • Lab instructor for systems programming (C and OS-adjacent programming).
    • TA and guest lecturer for parallel and distributed programming courses, including assignment design.
    • Supervisor: Dr. Zhiling Lan.

Industry Experience

  • Feb 2019 - Feb 2020
    Software Engineer
    Kove IO, Inc., Chicago, IL
    • Proposed, designed, and implemented the "Kove Toolkit", using customer data to demonstrate product viability and predict usage.
  • Feb 2017 - Sep 2017
    Software Engineer
    Project44, Chicago, IL
    • Worked in a textbook-structured Agile team developing client-integration solutions.

Skills

  • Languages and Tools
    • Python, C/C++, TypeScript, JavaScript, Java, Ruby, MATLAB/Octave, Assembly
  • Performance and Systems
    • Application profiling and analysis
    • Compiler modification (LLVM/Clang, OpenMP)
    • Linux administration
  • Data and Visualization
    • SQL (Oracle, MySQL, SQLite)
    • VictoriaMetrics
    • D3
  • Software Engineering
    • Frontend (Angular, Node.js) and backend (REST, SOAP) development
    • Version control (Git, CVS)
    • CI/CD (Jenkins, GitHub Actions)
    • Development methodologies (Scrum, Kanban, Waterfall)

Publications