Tianyu Li

About

I obtained my PhD from MIT EECS working with Prof. Samuel Madden. My research focuses on designing strong abstractions for stateful cloud systems to unlock developer productivity and infrastructure innovation. Before MIT, I worked with the infamous Andy Pavlo at CMU, where I received my bachelor's and master's degrees in computer science. I will be joining the UW-Madison Database Group as an assistant professor in 2026! I am recruiting 2-3 MS/PhD students for Fall 2026 in cloud, data processing, or AI systems. Please reach out if you are interested in chatting.

Publications

Please see my Google Scholar Profile.

Teaching

• CS839: Next-Generation Data Systems, Fall 2026, UW-Madison
• 6.5830/6.5831: Database Systems, Spring 2026, MIT

Service

• SIGMOD 2027, Program Committee
• CIDR 2026, Program Committee
• VLDB 2025, Program Committee (Distinguished Reviewer Award)

Contact

Email: litianyu AT mit.edu

Office: 32-G904B, 32 Vassar St., Cambridge, MA 02139, USA