Zixuan Wang
Software Engineer, PhD
About
I am Zixuan Wang (王子轩), a software engineer at Apple working on CloudOS. I received my PhD from the University of California San Diego, where I worked with Prof. Jishen Zhao on architecture and systems research. I also worked with Prof. Steven Swanson at NVSL Lab, UCSD.
My research focuses on building scalable systems with emerging architecture and systems technologies. At each level, I conduct systematic analysis, from characterizing performance to developing system support.
My industrial work across multiple companies has focused on deploying emerging technologies in real-world virtualization systems. At Google in 2021, I worked on modernizing the Linux KVM testing framework, which was merged into the Linux KVM community. At Meta in 2022, I worked on virtual machine infrastructure deployment. At Google in 2023, I enhanced guest virtual machine technologies. I have also worked on performance evaluation of memory systems.
My open-source work facilitates research, industry, and personal usage. I have contributed dozens of patches to the Linux KVM community, which are now used by cloud companies and open-source communities. I also maintain multiple open-source projects on GitHub that have impacted more than 200,000 users across research, tooling, and developer workflows.
I earned my bachelor's degree from Zhejiang University, where I worked on operating systems.
Fun Facts
- I take photos in my photo gallery.
- My radio call sign is KN6TTT.
- Here is Inu, my kitten, and his Instagram.
- I have a Guinness Record.
- I play table tennis and badminton.
- I learned snow skiing back in my hometown.
- I learned surfing at UC San Diego.
- I play games on PC, Switch, PS4, and PS5.
- I have a 3D printer.
- I have a rack in my closet.
- I play guitar.
- I am a fan of Sony products.
- I have a compound bow and am practicing for bow hunting.
- I ride a Kawasaki Ninja 400 motorcycle.
Experience
Senior Software Engineer
Apple
2025 Apr - Present
Apple's internal cloud computing infrastructure development.
Software Engineer
Apple
2024 Sept - 2025 Apr
Apple's internal cloud computing infrastructure development.
Graduate Research Assistant
University of California, San Diego
2018 Sept - 2024 Aug
Performance profiling and optimization of memory systems.
Software Engineering Intern
2023 June - 2023 Sept
Feature integration with latest virtual machine technologies.
Part-Time Software Engineering Intern
Meta
2022 Sept - 2023 Jan
Virtual machine infrastructure deployment at scale.
Software Engineering Intern
Meta
2022 June - 2022 Sept
Open-source virtualization platform integration in Meta.
Software Engineering Intern
2021 June - 2021 Sept
Automated hypervisor testing infrastructure modernization.
Education
PhD in Computer Science
University of California, San Diego
2018 - 2024
BS in Computer Science
Zhejiang University
2014 - 2018
Publications
In Progress
The Hitchhiker's Guide to Programming and Optimizing CXL-Based Heterogeneous Systems
ArXiv'24
Conference & Journal
NVLeak: Off-Chip Side-Channel Attacks via Non-Volatile Memory Systems
USENIX Security'23
Enabling Efficient Large-Scale Deep Learning Training with Cache Coherent Disaggregated Memory Systems
HPCA'22
Characterizing and Modeling Non-Volatile Memory Systems
IEEE Micro TopPicks'21
Characterizing and Modeling Non-Volatile Memory Systems
MICRO'20
Preprint & Workshop
Reliable and Flexible Large Scale Memory Network
NVMW'19
Service
Committee
University of California, San Diego
- Submission Chair @ MICRO 2020
- Shadow TPC @ EuroSys 2023
Organizing Committee
Students@Systems
2022 Jan - Present
I am one of the founders and organizers of Students@Systems, a community for PhD students in systems research that runs talks, podcasts, and panels for the broader systems community.
I have helped organize more than ten online events, including panels on applying for PhD programs and interviews with researchers from underrepresented groups.
Submission Chair
MICRO 2021
2021 Mar - 2023 July
I served as submission co-chair for MICRO 2021, working with program chairs to manage submissions and organize the TPC meeting.
I also open-sourced MightyPC, a toolkit I built to manage conference submissions. It has since been used by MICRO'21, IEEE MICRO TopPicks'22, HPCA'22, MICRO'22, DSN'23, and others.
Teaching
Teaching Assistant: Introduction to Computer Architecture
UC San Diego, 2021
Undergraduate-level computer architecture course.
Associate Instructor: Hardware-Based Computer System Design
Zhejiang University, 2018
Developed and instructed a course that guides students to build their own CPU on FPGA and run their own operating system.
Associate Instructor: Operating System Course
Zhejiang University, 2017
Developed and instructed a course that guides students to build an operating system from scratch.