William Culhane

William Culhane is a Post-doctoral Research Associate working with the Large-Scale Distributed Systems (LSDS) research group at Imperial College London under Dr. Peter Pietzuch. His research focuses on big data processing in cloud computing environments, with expertise spanning distributed systems architecture, network-aware algorithms, and practical implementation of theoretical models.

His academic credentials include:

• PhD in Computer Science from Purdue University (2015), Thesis: "Optimal 'Big Data' Aggregation Systems – From Theory to Practical Application"
• Masters in Computer Science from Purdue University (2011)
• BS in Computer Science and Engineering with Music minor from Ohio State University (2008), Cum Laude with Distinction

Culhane's research program bridges theoretical computer science with practical systems implementation. His early work established mathematical models for optimal aggregation overlays, demonstrating how specific properties of aggregation functions guide theoretically optimal overlay construction. This evolved into practical systems like LOOM that implement these models for real-world big data processing. His current research on Meta-Dataflows (MDF) enables users to specify solution spaces of data analysis approaches and automatically discover optimal outcomes without code changes. The SquirrelJoin project addresses network skew in distributed joins by dynamically rerouting traffic to underutilized network segments. His publication record shows consistent progression from theoretical foundations (INFOCOM'15, SIGCOMM'14) to applied systems (VLDB 2017, Middleware'14) with practical impact.

His professional trajectory includes significant industry exposure through a Google Techstop internship and research at Qatar University, where he explored anonymized database relations for third-party cloud processing. These experiences informed his approach to balancing theoretical purity with practical constraints in distributed systems design.

Culhane has developed numerous open-source tools for the research community including LaTeX macros for consistent document formatting, Linux deployment scripts for distributed system management, and JavaScript interactive graphing utilities. These practical contributions demonstrate his commitment to improving research infrastructure beyond his primary publications.