/əˈkʃeɪ ʃɹiˈvʌθ.sən/
Also: அக்ஷய் ஶ்ரீவத்ஸன், अक्षय श्रीवत्सन, 𑌅𑌕𑍍𑌷𑌯𑍍 𑌶𑍍𑌰𑍀𑌵𑌤𑍍𑌸𑌨𑍍, and 𑀅𑀓𑁆𑀱𑀬𑁆 𑀰𑁆𑀭𑀻𑀯𑀢𑁆𑀲𑀦𑁆
This page is also available in Latin, Tamil, and Sanskrit.
I’m a fourth-year Ph.D. candidate in Computer Science at Stanford University, advised by Professors Keith Winstein and Dawson Engler and working in the Systems and Networking Research Group at Stanford. My main research area is applying functional programming principles to operating systems, including continuation-centric operating system kernels and pure functional distributed computation. I also work with the Parallel and Distributed Operating Systems Group at MIT. In addition to functional operating systems, I sometimes work on proleptic zero-latency streaming and a structured editor with realtime feedback for beginning computer science.
In addition to my PhD advisors, I’ve also had the privilege to be advised by (in various capacities):
I’m actively involved in Stanford’s social dance clubs and community. I used to run (and still help organize) Dancebreak, a large social dance club with a focus on waltz and swing. I also performed in and currently tutor the Stanford Viennese Ball Opening Committee. I teach dance lessons and workshops for Dancebreak, Viennese Ball (Austria Fortnight), Big Dance, Stanford Swing Dancers, and Cardinal West Coast Swing. If you’re at Stanford and want to learn more about social dancing, come to Dancebreak on Monday nights!
Videos of some of my performances are here:
I will be TAing CS 244C: Advanced Networking and Distributed Systems in Winter 2026. Previously, I TAed CS 240: Advanced Topics in Operating Systems, a graduate-level paper discussion class about operating systems. Before that, I TAed the laboratory version of the same class, CS 240LX: Advanced Systems Laboratory, Accelerated. I also TAed CS 140E: Operating Systems Design and Implementation several times; CS 140E is a laboratory-based undergraduate introduction to operating systems.
I co-taught CS 45: Software Tools Every Programmer Should Know with Ayelet Drazen and Jonathan Kula in both Winter and Spring 2023. We designed this course to cover all the basic tools and concepts programmers (both software engineers and CS students) are required to know, but which never get taught in CS classes; it’s inspired by MIT’s Missing Semester course, but strives to go more in-depth and cover the conceptual background underlying the tools. Our two-quarter pilot run was successful enough that the course was later taught as CS 104: Introduction to Essential Software Systems and Tools.
I did my M.S. and B.S. at Stanford, in 2022 and 2021 respectively. My undergraduate specialization was computer graphics, and my masters specialization was computer systems. Before that, I went to high school at Menlo School.
/etcPhoto taken by Lucas Garron, whose website also has a bunch of cool stuff relating to social dance.
© 2025 Akshay Srivatsan