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. My academic interests include theoretical cryptography, complexity theory, quantum computing, and 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.