Antonio Barbalace

Antonio Barbalace is a Senior Lecturer at the Institute for Computing Systems Architecture (ICSA), School of Informatics, The University of Edinburgh. He leads the Systems-Nuts research group and holds key roles including ICSA Lab Manager, interim IoT Lab Manager, and MSc in Computer Science program director. He is also an affiliate member of the Edinburgh Quantum Software Lab and an adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering at Virginia Tech.

His research focuses on system software, particularly operating systems, virtualization, and runtime environments for heterogeneous and distributed architectures—from embedded systems to data centers. His work spans OS design (e.g., Popcorn Linux), compiler frameworks (LLVM), real-time systems, scheduling, synchronization, networking, storage, and performance analysis. Recently, he has explored operating systems for Quantum Processing Units and classical simulation of quantum systems. His interests also include power efficiency, fault-tolerance, and security in system software.

His recent publications, accepted at ASPLOS'25 and EUROMLSYS'25, highlight innovative work in fused-kernel OS design (Stramash) and kernel-level remote shared memory for AI inference (RMAI), indicating a strong trajectory in high-performance, low-latency system architectures for modern computing paradigms.

Scientific Awards:

• No scientific awards listed in the provided text.

Advising and Grants:
Antonio actively advises multiple PhD and Master’s students at the University of Edinburgh and has previously supervised students and postdocs at Virginia Tech and Stevens Institute of Technology. His research is supported by current and past projects such as Data-center scale classical simulation of quantum computers, Quantum circuit cutting, Popcorn Linux Next++, and in-storage processing. He has secured funding from sources including ONR and AFOSR during his time at Virginia Tech.

Labs and Teams:
He leads the Systems-Nuts Research Group, which is part of ICSA and collaborates with the Quantum Software Lab (QSL) at the University of Edinburgh. The group focuses on systems software optimization and quantum computing architecture, supported by hardware testbeds for experimental research.