KK Yu

I performed penetration testing, security review, and vulnerability mitigation for several Intel SoCs in the desktop/laptop space. I worked with many software and firmware teams across Intel to scope in/out features, build an appropriate threat model, and then review specs and code to meet that threat model. I designed mitigations when needed, and helped to implement them as well. I was lucky to be part of a team that built and promoted security culture across our business unit and company. We won many internal awards and were touted as an example for other business units to follow. This was a very rewarding part of the job and one that I will remember fondly.

-- Managed projects to create and evaluate new computer memory devices. Efforts resulted in 7 peer-reviewed publications and 2 National Science Foundation grants totaling over $1m, 1 US Patent pending. -- Supervised and performed research process: idea formation, forecasting, problem specification, data source selection, data collection and management, model building, programming, optimization, scenario analysis and evaluation, presenting and reporting recommendations -- Headed team of 4 graduate students in 2 groups to develop a new, more efficient memory cell that, for the same capacity, results in a savings of 38% in area and 68% in energy costs vs. traditional cells -- Co-led a cross-institutional project (3 professors, 8 students) to enable critical security capabilities on common Flash memory (i.e on smartphones). As a result, we eliminated the need for specialized purpose-built hardware, increasing time-to-market and lowering manufacturing and integration costs. -- Designed a processor with a novel memory, created with a team of 5, improving save and restore functionality with ~100x faster speed and ~1000x lower energy cost, in turn enabling new capabilities -- Proficiencies in modeling, data evaluation and decision-making, competitive analysis, and forecasting -- Regularly presented ideas to 40 person research group, and audiences of 400+ at professional conferences

• Resolved mismatches in digital and physical representations of custom circuits for a state-of-the-art x86 server processor • Make and commit production changes to design RTL

• Resolved mismatches in digital and physical representations of custom logic and memory circuits for a state-of-the-art x86 server processor • Made and committed production changes to design Verilog RTL

• Placed and routed standard cells for various modules of the on-die northbridge of a state-of-the-art x86 server processor

• Troubleshot various malware-related problems on college student computers • Primarily Windows XP (pre-SP2) OS and computing environment • Brought concerns and feedback to upper-level IT at Rice to inform policy • On-call 24/7 with another Associate

• Worked in Atomic and Molecular Collisions Group, led by Dr. Bernard Lindsay • Maintained lab equipment including vacuum systems, ion accelerators, high-voltage power supplies, gas feed system • Ran experiments involving measurement of atomic cross-sections

• Designed Verilog test-benches for then-new 65nm technology test chip • Resolved mismatches in design Verilog RTL and analog circuit implementation of custom circuits

Studied abroad for a year