open PhD positions

I am currently looking to recruit up to 4 new PhD students to work on core computer systems research. Positions are fully funded, primarily via research assistantship. Send me an email to learn more about this opportunity.

research interests

While my interests have varied over the years, I am currently focusing on core computer systems research, including operating systems, concurrency, performance, and operating systems.

teaching

I teach and have had a hand in the design of many of the systems classes in the CS department, such as

• CS361: Computer Systems Programming
• CS450: Computer Networks
• CS461: Operating System Design and Implementation
• CS463: Systems Performance and Concurrent Computing

as well as CS294: Unix Terminal Bootcamp. I see teaching as the most important part of my job, and thus I spend a great deal of time and effort on my classes. In return, I get high marks on RateMyProfessors and have received some pretty nice teaching awards such as the Teaching Recognition Program Award (2014), and the UIC Award for Excellence in Teaching (2022).

You can find complete lecture recordings of some past classes here.

advisees

I am currently advising the PhD students below:

• Noaman Ahmad
• Chen Chen
• Wenshao Zhong

Graduated PhD advisees include:

• Nilanjana Basu
• Sepideh Roghanchi
• Timothy Merrifield
• Yanzi Jin
• ABM Musa
• Tomas Gerlich
• James Biagioni

mixed bag of goodies

My North American English tips for recent arrivals from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. A morbidly fascinating history of UIC's campus architecture. If you're a UIC faculty member and want a web page just like mine, I made the for this web page available on github. Just fork the repo, edit the contents, and you're good to go.

about me

I grew up in Sweden, and I have three children together with my wife Natasha Devroye, who is also a professor at UIC. When I am not working on playing with the kids, I enjoy long trips to far-away destinations, tending my extensive edible garden, reading science fiction and churning credit cards for free business class tickets.

contact info

My office is in 1309 SEO, one flight of stairs up from where the SEO elevator stops. My lab is next door, in 1300 SEO. My office phone number is (312) 996-0481, but I am best reached by email, at jakob@uic.edu.

resume

I have been a professor at UIC since 2009. Before that, I spent two years at MIT CSAIL as a postdoc with Hari Balakrishnan and Samuel Madden. I received my Ph.D. from UC Riverside in 2006, where my advisor was Michalis Faloutsos. Before that, I spent a few years in various software startups, after receiving my BS/MS degree from the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Sweden.

publications

You'll find a complete list of my publications on Google Scholar.