Salman Munaf

Software Engineer

About Me

Hi, my name’s Salman and I am a recent graduate from LUMS with a major in Computer Science and a minor in Mathematics. I am interested in the design and implementation of systems guided by theoretical principles, at the intersection of networking, distributed systems and security. I enjoy researching and reading about problems in my area of interest; and creating unique algorithms to solve them.

  • Languages: Python, C++, NodeJS/Javascript, React, HTML, CSS, Haskell, GoLang, SQL, x86-64 Assembly
  • Libraries: Socket.IO, Numpy, Matplotlib, Pandas, Scikit-learn, Seaborn
  • Testbeds: PlanetLab, Emulab
  • Misc: LaTeX, Git

Projects

Data Leakage in Job Search Services

Performed a systematic study of how users’ personally identifiable information (PII) is leaked in job search services. Surprisingly, our experimental results show that elaborate user profiles can be reconstructed via large-scale user sensitive data harvesting.

SmarTOR

Designed, implemented, and evaluated a new Tor client SmarTOR, to demonstrate that significant latency gains can be achieved without compromising user anonymity. Our measurements show that SmarTOR can deliver up to 60.9% reduction in median page load times compared to Tor while justrequiring client-side changes.

Campus Connect

Developed a mobile application using the React Native framework which allows students to share lecture notes of different courses, give instructor reviews and communicate with students of similar interests.

Distributed Search Engine

Created a distributed search engine using Python and socket interface. A master node assigns search tasks to the worker nodes, and they return the search results which are compiled and displayed to the user by the master node.

Experience

TechForge

Software Engineer

July 2019 - Present

Performed a large scale CDN network optimization which led to an improvement in cache-hit ratio and page load time. Focused on scaling challenges and improving the usability of the platform.

LUMS

Research Assistant

September 2018 - May 2019

Worked on improving video streaming experience on low-end devices. Proposed and evaluated DAVS, a video client module that adapts the play-back buffer size and the video bitrate in response to device bottlenecks.

ETH Zurich

Research Assistant

July 2018 - August 2018

Explored how the performance of video streaming solutions proposed in research papers such as Pensieve and MPC compared to the proprietary solutions adopted by the major providers (e.g. YouTube).

LUMS

Teaching Assistant

January 2018 - May 2019

Served as a teaching assistant for Introduction to the Internet: Architecture and Protocols, Network Security, and Data Structures courses. Designed problem sets, exam questions, and a new class project of implementing congestion control for peer-to-peer systems. Conducted weekly recitations to help students with in-class material.

Education

Lahore University of Management Sciences

BS Computer Science

2015 - 2019

Relevant Courses:

  • Topics in Internet Research
  • Network Security
  • Deep Learning
  • Principles and Techniques of Data Science
  • Network-Centric Computing
  • Fundamentals of Computer Systems
  • Operating Systems
  • Advanced Programming

A Little More About Me

Alongside my interests in networks and software engineering some of my other interests and hobbies are:

  • Travelling
  • Community service
  • Sports (Swimming, Tennis, Cricket, and Football)