Menu
Welcome!

I'm Joseph Lin.

Software Engineer Physicist

More About Me

About

Profile Picture

I am currently a software engineer at Microsoft, working on Azure App Services. Before joining Microsoft, I was a graduate student at MIT, where I received my Master of Engineering degree in June 2019 in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. In 2018, I received my Bachelor of Science double major degree, also from MIT, in Physics and in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. In my spare time, I enjoy playing basketball, playing video games, hiking, and hanging out with friends. I also enjoy watching comedy shows/skits and documentaries (if you have any recommendations, let me know! ).

Profile

My current interests are in cloud computing and distributed systems. I enjoy both the impact and challenges that such large-scale projects provide. I am also excited by the wealth of opportunities and creative ideas that can come to life when supported by the scale of cloud computing resources.

On the research end, my interests have been occupied by the interface of physics and programming: quantum computing. More specifically, I am interested in both the theoretically enormous advantages that quantum information and computation can afford over their classical counterparts, as well as more modest, near-term applications on small scale, physically realizable quantum systems.

Skills

Programming languages I have the most experiences with are listed below.

  • Python
  • C#/.NET Framework/.NET Core
  • Java
  • SQL
  • LaTeX
Contact Me

Resume

Education

Master's Degree

September 2018 - June 2019

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Master of Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Thesis: Using Spectral Graph Theory to Map Qubits onto Connectivity-Limited Devices
GPA: 5.0/5.0

Bachelor's Degrees

September 2014 - June 2018

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Bachelor of Science, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Bachelor of Science, Physics
Thesis: Quantum Blackjack: Quantum Strategies and Advantages in Games with Limited Classical Communication
GPA: 5.0/5.0
Honor societies: Phi Beta Kappa, Tau Beta Pi, Eta Kappa Nu, Sigma Pi Sigma

Work Experience

Software Engineer

Redmond, Washington
August 2019 - Present

Microsoft

I am currently working on Azure App Services, Microsoft's PaaS offering for deploying web applications.

Software Engineering Intern

Berkeley, California
June 2017 - August 2017

Rigetti Computing

Implemented quantum algorithms and features for Rigetti's quantum cloud services, Forest. Software skills used included Python and Quil, a low-level quantum instruction language. Physics skills used included knowledge of quantum mechanics and linear algebra.

AR/VR App Development Intern

Cambridge, Massachusetts
January 2017

Brain Power, LLC

I worked on AR/VR assistive technology aimed at helping children on the autism spectrum. I programmed using C# in Unity to designed, developed, and deployed Android applications on Google Glass and mobile devices. These apps were used by adults and caretakers to help teach autistic individuals about observing and reacting to emotions.

Analytics Intern

San Francisco, California
June 2016 - August 2016

Kamcord

My main project was completing a real-time user specific recommendation system with machine learning and collaborative filtering. This recommended app content and content creators to users based on affinity history. I also used SQL and Python for data pulls and processing to analyze the success of the product and features. Lastly, I created live-updating time series graphs of key company metrics, with web hosting through Django deployments on AWS.

Research Experience

Graduate Research Assistant

Cambridge, Massachusetts
June 2018 - Present

MIT Center for Theoretical Physics
Advisor: Aram Harrow
Thesis: Using Spectral Graph Theory to Map Qubits onto Connectivity-Limited Devices

For my Master of Engineering thesis, I conducted research into qubit allocation/mapping for the purpose of optimizing quantum circuits. The focus was on both long-term scalability and near-term applications, like chemical simulation problems. I designed and implemented an algorithm which uses concepts from spectral graph theory to efficiently transform quantum circuits into equivalent circuits that can be run on limited-connectivity devices, with low transformation overhead.

The pre-print paper can be found at https://arxiv.org/abs/1910.11489.
The repository containing the code for this project can be found at https://github.com/joelin0/spectral-mapping.

Research Assistant

Cambridge, Massachusetts
February 2017 - June 2018

MIT Center for Theoretical Physics
Advisors: Aram Harrow, Joseph Formaggio
Thesis: Quantum Blackjack: Quantum Strategies and Advantages in Games with Limited Classical Communication

For my senior thesis, I conducted research into quantum game theory and strategies. In particular, I looked for the types of games and entangled communication that leads to advantages over classical strategies. This included analyzing classical and quantum probabilistic correlations using Semidefinite Programming optimization.

The pre-print paper can be found at https://arxiv.org/abs/1908.09417.
The repository containing the code for this project can be found at https://github.com/joelin0/quantum-blackjack.

Research Assistant

Cambridge, Massachusetts
October 2015 - January 2016

MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center

I performed finite element analysis using COMSOL Multiphysics to simulate, design, construct and test high temperature superconducting cables.

Research Assistant

Geneva, Switzerland
Cambridge, Massachusetts
October 2014 - June 2015

CERN | MIT Relativistic Heavy Ion Group

I researched properties of the splitting function in proton-proton dijet collisions though statistical analysis of the momentum sharing parameter. This was done via analysing Soft Drop, a class of jet clustering algorithm, using C++/ROOT. I applied Soft Drop both to Monte Carlo simulations and actual CMS collision data. This culminated in a presentation for the Heavy Ion Group's quantum chromodynamics (QCD) study.

Teaching Experience

Graduate Teaching Assistant

Cambridge, Massachusetts
February 2019 - June 2019

MIT Course 6.01 - Introduction to EECS via Robotics

I was responsible for running labs and office hours. One of two TAs in a class of about 20 students.

Graduate Teaching Assistant

Cambridge, Massachusetts
September 2018 - December 2018

MIT Course 6.009 - Fundamentals of Programming

I was responsible for giving feedback to lab and test drafts, grading student assignments, and running office hours. One of approximately ten on the staff for a large class of hundreds of students.

Undergraduate Lab Assistant

Cambridge, Massachusetts
February 2017-June 2018

MIT Course 6.009 - Fundamentals of Programming

I was responsible for giving feedback to lab drafts, and grading student assignments during office hours. Held this position for three semesters.

EECS Tutor

Cambridge, Massachusetts
September 2017-June 2018

Eta Kappa Nu (EECS Honor Society) Tutoring Committee

Weekly one-on-one tutoring for students in Introduction to Machine Learning (6.036) and Signals and Systems (6.003).

Contact

Email Me At

joelin2014@gmail.com