Joseph M. Hellerstein

Joseph M. Hellerstein is the Jim Gray Professor of Computer Science at the University of California, Berkeley, within the College of Engineering. His research spans databases, distributed systems, and programming languages, with a focus on data-centric systems. He actively bridges academia and industry as co-founder of startups like Aqueduct and Trifacta, Faculty Fellow at Sutter Hill Ventures, and former Director of Intel Research, Berkeley.

Research Interests: His work addresses foundational challenges in data systems, including cloud programming models, distributed dataflow frameworks, and verified synthesis of coordination mechanisms. He integrates human-computer interaction, AI systems, and security into data-centric computing paradigms.

Selected Publications (2021-2025): These span choreographic programming for distributed dataflow, equality saturation techniques, CRDT synthesis, and declarative cloud models. Keywords include distributed systems, formal verification, Rust, and compiler design.

Scientific Awards:

• ACM SIGMOD Codd Innovations Award
• ACM Fellow
• Sloan Fellowship
• Six Test of Time Awards

Advising: He oversees graduate students in the Berkeley Data Systems group, including Nithin Chalapathi, Audrey Cheng, David Chu, and Zongheng Yang. His team collaborates with labs such as EPIC, Sky, and Slice at UC Berkeley.