Nicholas Smirnov

Nicholas Smirnov

B.S. Computer Science & Mathematics, Stony Brook University
nicholas.smirnov@stonybrook.edu  ·  linkedin.com/in/nicholassmirnov

I am currently a second-year undergraduate student at Stony Brook University studying Computer Science and Mathematics. I am interested in theoretical cryptography, complexity theory, and quantum computing. My past research experiences also include machine learning.

Research

Research Fellow

File Systems and Storage Lab (FSL), Stony Brook University

  • Analyze Shamir's Secret Sharing and related schemes to evaluate efficiency, robustness, and integrity guarantees for long-term storage systems.
  • Use Rust libraries and formal cryptographic arguments to bound adversarial advantage to negligible levels.

Research Assistant

DIENS Lab, Stony Brook University

  • Researched zeroth- and first-order optimization methods for machine learning in non-convex landscapes.
  • Implemented PyTorch frameworks for SGD and Adam variants, improving convergence on high-dimensional datasets.
  • Developed mathematical models combining convex optimization theory with neural network convergence analysis.

REU Researcher

Arlington Computational Linguistics Lab, UT Arlington

  • Curated dataset of 250K+ feline images; trained age-classification models using TensorFlow and PyTorch.
  • Built an end-to-end ML pipeline for 100+ GB of video, extracting 20K+ vocalizations using YOLOv8 and PANNs.
  • Designed and evaluated acoustic feature sets for developmental vocalization modeling.

Research Intern

NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS)

  • Presented climate change analysis at AGU23 using GIS data [abstract].
  • Processed 10+ GB of environmental data with Python, Pandas, and Google Earth Engine.
  • Applied clustering, decision trees, and random forests to predict harmful algal bloom risk.

Teaching

Teaching Assistant

Stony Brook University

  • Led recitation/lecture sections for CSE 113 (Discrete Mathematics) with targeted practice material and individualized guidance.
  • Average recitation performance exceeded parallel sections by approximately one letter grade.

Instructor / Teaching Assistant

School Nova, Stony Brook University

  • Taught Roblox Game Development covering programming, scripting, and UX principles.
  • Assisted in Computer Science 101/201 and Russian 2/3; led discussion sections and graded coursework.