PhD Student · Computer Sciences · UW–Madison

Hayden Coffey

Madison, WI / hjcoffey@wisc.edu

Last updated October 2026

Portrait of Hayden Coffey

I am a PhD student in Computer Sciences at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, advised by Dr. Michael Swift in the SCAIL group. I’m broadly interested in systems research, with a focus on OS-level resource management, profiling and characterization, and applying learned methods to low-level policy decisions.

This site is a hub for both my professional and personal interests.

Regional Policies for Memory Tiering Systems

Hayden Coffey, Sujay Yadalam, Ashwin Poduval, Vinay Banakar, Shivaram Venkataraman, Michael Swift

ACM DIMES ’26 (Workshop on Disruptive Memory Systems) · 2026

Graduate Research Assistant

Fall 2021 – Present

University of Wisconsin–Madison

Advised by Dr. Michael Swift at SCAIL, with a focus on heterogeneous memory systems and ML for systems. Lead author on regional memory tiering policies (DIMES ’26) and co-lead on ZRay, a portable compiler-assisted memory traffic profiler (IISWC ’26).

Member, NSF Expedition on Learning Directed Operating Systems (LDOS)

2025 – Present

National Science Foundation

SRC Scholar, JUMP 2.0 Program on Heterogeneous Memory

2021 – Present

Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC)

Part-Time Engineer

Fall 2024

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD)

Worked remotely with the Pensando GPU Network Architecture team.

Summer Co-op/Intern

Summer 2023, 2024

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD)

Worked in Santa Clara, California with the Pensando GPU Network Architecture team on a congestion control implementation on ASIC.

Graduate Research Assistant

Fall 2019 – Summer 2021

University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Worked under the direction of Dr. Michael R. Jantz in the CORSys group on a system that utilizes a modified Zswap program to automatically mark, compress, and manage cold data.

Software Engineer Intern

Summer 2019

SAIC

Worked in Huntsville, Alabama, building software models and paradigms in Java on the Core team, letting other teams’ work combine into a single system. Received a secret security clearance.

Undergraduate Research Assistant

Fall 2018 – Spring 2019

University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Worked under the direction of Dr. Austin Z. Henley and collaborated with Oregon State University on an Electron-based IDE written in TypeScript. Visually represented software projects with files viewed as cards that could be moved/stacked alongside annotations used to detail project designs.

Cell Biology Undergraduate Research Assistant

Fall 2016 – Spring 2017

University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Assisted in research on the protein CDC42 and yeast cell division under the direction of Dr. Maitreyi Das.

Teaching Assistant, Operating Systems (CS 537)

Spring 2025

University of Wisconsin–Madison

Teaching Assistant, Data Structures & Algorithms II (COSC 302)

Spring 2021

University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Head Teaching Assistant, Computer Architecture (COSC 530)

Fall 2020

University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Head Teaching Assistant, Computer Organization (COSC 130)

2019 – 2020

University of Tennessee, Knoxville

PhD, Computer Sciences

2021 – Present

University of Wisconsin–Madison

Expected 2027. Advised by Dr. Michael Swift. Minor in Astronomy.

M.S., Computer Science

2019 – 2021

University of Tennessee, Knoxville

GPA 3.97/4.00. Advised by Dr. Michael Jantz.

B.S., Computer Science

2015 – 2019

University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Summa cum laude, GPA 3.95/4.00. Minor in Mathematics.