Pulse Research Fellowship and Mentorship > 2025 Fellows

2025 Fellows and Mentors

Fellows

Antonios Chatzivasiliou

I am a PhD candidate at the University of Crete with a research focus on Internet measurements, inter-domain routing, infrastructure deployment, and Autonomous System (AS) relationships. My research delves into the complexities of network topologies to improve the resilience, stability, and performance of global Internet infrastructure.

Project: Internet Infrastructure Changes in Times of Crisis

Read about the outcomes from Antonios’ project: When Routes Speak Politics: How Geopolitical Tensions Shape the Internet

My recent work examined Ukraine’s Internet infrastructure and the profound impact of war on its connectivity and operations. By analyzing the evolution of Internet architectures, I contribute to the development of scalable, secure, and efficient communication networks, ensuring reliable data exchange across regions while addressing emerging challenges in Internet governance and infrastructure design.

Deepak Gouda

I am a PhD student at Georgia Tech. I focus on developing methods to map the ownership structure of Internet resources and use these insights to better our understanding of the security and resilience of critical Internet infrastructure, including the Internet Protocol (IP) layer and routing ecosystem.

Project: Who Owns the Internet? Analyzing Market Concentration in Global IP Address Space

Dipsy Desai

I am a second-year PhD student at the University of Southern California, where I focus on computer networking, management, and security. My research aims to better the performance of DNS root servers through advanced measurement techniques. Outside of work, I enjoy hiking in the mountains and traveling, as I am always eager to explore new places.

Project: Minimizing Unwanted Incoming Queries to b.root-server

Read about the outcomes from Dipsy’s project: More Than 70% of DNS Root Queries Are Junk

A man with moustaches and beard in blue shirt

Florian Steurer

I am a PhD student in the Internet Architecture Group at the Max Planck Institute for Informatics. My research focuses on measuring the Domain Name System (DNS) and resilience.

Project: Measuring DNS Resilience

Read about the outcomes from Florian’s project: Measuring DNS Root Servers Under Change

Karthik Nishanth

I am a second-year graduate student in computer science at the University of British Columbia. My research interests include systems programming, networking, and Internet resilience. Before my graduate studies, I spent five years working in the machine vision industry. Outside of work, I enjoy tinkering with embedded systems and self-hosted infrastructure.

Project: QUICensor: A Global Measurement Study of QUIC Blocking

Read about the outcomes from Karthik’s project: Now There’s a Way to Measure QUIC Targeting By Middleboxes

A black and white photo of a man in white T-shirt and black hoodie, wearing glasses

Martin Thodi

I am a PhD candidate at the University of Cape Town, where my research focuses on developing data-driven models to optimize peering decisions for autonomous systems. My work combines Border Gateway Protocol (BGP), network topology, and geolocation data to analyze the Internet peering ecosystem in Africa. I aim to create tools that help networks make more informed peering decisions.

Project: Quantifying Local Internet Traffic – An Ensemble of Methods

A man in a black suit with white shirt wearing red tie

Muhammad Sumeer Ahmad

I am a third-year PhD candidate at Stony Brook University. My research focuses on the intersection of network security and Internet measurements. Specifically, I examine emerging privacy threats in modern network protocols to help develop more resilient digital infrastructure.

Project: Rethinking Privacy in IPv6 Networks: A Large-Scale Study on IPv6-enabled Website Fingerprinting

Nishant Acharya

I am a doctoral student at the University of California, Davis, in the Graduate Group of Computer Science. I’m currently a graduate student researcher in the Internet Researcher and Policy Lab. My research interests focus on the intersection of computer networking systems, infrastructure analysis, and privacy. I aim to understand questions about the availability, fragility, and efficiency of networking systems.

Project: Quantifying the Impact of IXP Shutdowns

Rashna Kumar

I am a final-year PhD candidate in the Department of Computer Science at Northwestern University, working with Fabián E. Bustamante’s AquaLab research group.

Project: Concentration and Consolidation of the Internet

Read about the outcomes from Rashna’s project: The Digital Roads to Government Services: Uncovering Consolidation and Exposure

Riya Ponraj

I am a PhD student in computer science at the University of Oregon. Since my sophomore year, I’ve been deeply invested in machine learning (ML) and actively keep up with weekly artificial intelligence (AI) trends. My research focuses on mapping the network layer to the physical layer to better network performance, security, and traffic routing.

Project: Network-Physical Layer Mapping for Enhanced Internet Resilience and Security

A man with glasses in a green plaid shirt

Sachin Kumar Singh

I am a final-year PhD student in the Kahlert School of Computing at the University of Utah. My research interests include security, privacy, and Internet measurement. I focus on developing new tools and techniques to improve understanding of security and privacy issues through Internet measurement.

Project: IPv6 Adoption, Performance, Security, and Resilience in the Web Ecosystem

A woman in white turtle neck and olive green blazer jacket

Tanya Shreedhar

I am a networks and systems researcher in the Networked Systems Group at Delft University of Technology (TU Delft). My work focuses on network resilience, Internet measurement, and transport protocols.

Project: Bridging AS Topology and Traffic Affinity for Network Resilience

I’ve published my research in the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Transactions on Networking, IEEE Transactions of Network and Service Management, IEEE WoWMoM, IFIP Networking, and IEEE Communication Magazine.

Technical media outlets like the Asia Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC) and RIPE have featured my research. I am an active contributor to the research community, serving as a technical program committee member and reviewer for leading conferences and journals. I also mentor young researchers through various initiatives and currently serve as a board member and geo-diversity chair for N2Women.

I’ve received numerous awards and recognitions, including being featured in the L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science UK and Ireland Rising Talents cohort and the Heidelberg Laureate Forum Spotlight Feature. I’ve also been invited to prestigious scientific summits, such as the Falling Walls Science Summit and the Heidelberg Laureate Forum, where I’ve served as a young researcher, master of ceremonies, and alumna.

woman in cyclamen polka dot shirt and black cardigan

Vaishnavi Raghavajosyula

I am a PhD student at the Max Planck Institute for Informatics.

Project: Measuring IPv6 Interoperability

Mentors

A man in brown leather jacket with arms crossed

Alexander Gamero-Garrido

I am an assistant professor of computer science at the University of California, Davis. My research is at the intersection of computer networks and public policy, with an emphasis on online privacy. My work provides empirical evidence on contentious questions in technology policy by using methods from both computer networking and the social sciences.

My research in these areas is published in major Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) conferences on both cybersecurity (CCS) and networking (SIGCOMM, IMC). My studies have won several awards at computer networking conferences, including the SIGCOMM Best Paper Award. Prior to joining UC Davis, I was a Ford Foundation Post-Doc Fellow at Northeastern. I received an M.Sc. in Tech & Policy from MIT and a PhD in Computer Science from UC San Diego.

A man in a black jacket stands leaning on a rampart

Kevin Vermeulen

I am a researcher at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS). Before joining CNRS, I earned my doctorate from Sorbonne Université and completed a postdoctorate at Columbia University. I’m interested in building networked measurement systems to better understand and fix the Internet. I design systems to improve both the technical side of the Internet and our understanding of its societal consequences.

A woman in a grey blazer jacket and dark blue shirt, smiling

Liz Izhikevich

I am an assistant professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at the University of California, Los Angeles. I build high-performance network analysis systems and use statistical analytics to understand and better the Internet’s performance and security. My work has received the ACM Internet Measurement Conference (IMC) Community Contribution Award and is widely used in industry and government. I’m a graduate of UC San Diego and Stanford, and I’m on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in science.

Marinho Barcellos

I am a senior lecturer at the University of Waikato. My research focuses on Internet measurements and network security, particularly the performance and resilience of networked systems. I’ve regularly helped the research community by serving on multiple committees and currently chair the advisory board of the ACM PACMNET journal.

I received a PhD from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne in 1998. While in Brazil, he served as a PI on multiple research projects on network security and Internet measurements funded by RNP and CNPq.

A man with glasses wearing a white shirt and black suit

Theophilus Benson

I am a mentor and expert in network systems and security from Carnegie Mellon University.

Vasileios Giotsas

I am a research engineer at Cloudflare, specializing in network measurements, telemetry, and the security of critical Internet infrastructure. My work focuses on assessing topological vulnerabilities, analyzing Internet routing policies, and improving risk assessment methodologies. Previously, I served as an assistant professor at Lancaster University in the UK, where I led the network security research area for the Systems and Security Group (SSG).

I have played a key role in multiple mission-critical research projects funded by the UK National Cyber Security Center (NCSC) and the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS). My research has been published in top-tier academic conferences, including ACM SIGCOMM, ACM IMC, ACM CoNEXT, and USENIX NSDI.

Disclaimer: The Internet Society reserves the sole right to decide if an applicant proposal meets the eligibility requirements.
Image credit: © Yurian Quintanas Nobel