Barzan Mozafari

Barzan Mozafari is an Associate Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and leads a research group focused on scalable database systems and approximate computing. He holds a PhD from UCLA (2011) and was a Postdoctoral Associate at MIT.

His research emphasizes data-intensive systems, combining statistical models, optimization, and machine learning to enhance database performance and predictability. Notable projects include BlinkDB (approximate query processing), DBSeer (database diagnosis), and VerdictDB (platform-independent AQP). He co-founded Keebo, advancing data learning technologies, and contributed to SnappyData (acquired by TIBCO).

His work spans technical innovations like CATS/VATS scheduling algorithms (adopted in MySQL/MariaDB) and grants such as ConFlux (NSF-funded supercomputing-big data integration) and a smart black-box for autonomous vehicles. Awards include the NSF CAREER Award and Best Paper recognitions at SIGMOD and EuroSys.

Teaching includes EECS 484/584 (Database Management Systems) and advanced topics courses. He advises students like Yongjoo Park (SIGMOD Dissertation Runner-Up), Jiamin Huang, and Boyu Tian.